The Challenges of an Uchiha
by Sunnyappleseeds
Summary: Orochimaru has done unspeakable things to the youngest Uchiha. After he is taken from Orochimaru, will he be able to find his place in the world? How will the horrors of his life contribute to placing him on a new path? Revolves mainly around Sasuke's life after Orochimaru and his relationship with Itachi and Naruto. There is non-con in the beginning! The last chapter is now up!
1. Chapter 1

**This fiction contains Orochimaru and Sasuke rape and abuse. If you do not want to read that kind of material, I suggest you do not read this story. Later on, it gets deeper and focuses on Sasuke's relationship with his brother. You have been warned about the content, so do not leave any comments about how this is creepy and twisted. I already know that.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. I just got this idea from reading other fanfictions and put my own spin on it.**

It was beginning to get late; the sun was almost below the horizon line. This meant that another rigorous day of training was coming to a close. "Well," Orochimaru began, "we've trained enough for one day."

Sasuke glanced over at the snake sannin, "this training… it's not working. I'm not getting strong enough from these childish exercises."

Orochimaru turned to face his dissatisfied pupil. "Now, my boy, these things take time. Just be patient; you will become strong."

"I've been here nearly two years! In that amount of time, I should have already doubled my current strength, but all you do is waste that time!"

Suddenly, Kabuto appeared by his lord's side. "Sasuke, I've told you to stop speaking to Lord Orochimaru like that. I'm not going to tell you again. Now go clean yourself up; I'll come by your room to tend to your wounds in a little while." Sasuke glared at him before returning to the hideout. "Lord Orochimaru, you shouldn't let him speak to you in such a way." Kabuto said, turning to face his master.

"I suppose he should be taught his place," Orochimaru mused, "however, I am only interested in taking his body as my own, and the ritual is only several months away… no need to make him more perverse."

A look of disappointment came across the young man's face. "You may be right; however, if you don't show him his proper place as your subordinate now, what makes you think he will not attempt to reject your transference? He will be stronger in another year, though he will never match you, he may put up a rather troublesome fight."

"You make a good point, Kabuto. Perhaps I should show him where he belongs…"

With that the two men disappeared from the training area.

Back at the underground hideout, Sasuke sat in his dimly lit room waiting for the medic to arrive. As he waited, thoughts of his older brother forced their way to the front of his mind. He gave up everything to get his revenge; he left his friends, his village, the memory of his clan, everything… Anger began to bubble inside of him as he thought of all the things he lost due to his older brother, but before he lashed out, someone entered his chamber.

'He looked up, letting the rage fade from his mind. In the dim candle light, he made out the figure that approached him: Kabuto. Though he had the urge to shoo the man from his room, he suppressed it because he knew that Kabuto was there to heal the injuries he had gotten from his training in the previous hours.

"Lord Orochimaru has given me orders to heal all of your wounds completely. He wants you at one hundred percent for your next exercise." Kabuto informed the Uchiha. _Oh, Sasuke, _Kabuto thought with slight amusement playing across his face, _if you only knew what this next exercise is…"_

"Whatever," Sasuke replied with lack of emotion, "just do this quickly. I have more important things to attend to." Though, in reality, he had nothing else to do. He just wanted the annoying medic out of his sight. Sasuke could not tolerate his presence for long.

"Actually, this next activity my lord has planned is take place immediately after I am finished with you, so those other tasks will have to wait."

"Hn."

"And may I suggest that you lose the attitude while in our master's presence? It will only cause this to be more troublesome for you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You will see in time, Sasuke." Kabuto smirked as he moved his healing chakra from Sasuke's shoulder to his back. While Kabuto continued to close his fresh wounds, Sasuke pondered the man's words. What exactly did he mean by making this "more troublesome?" And why was this training so secretive and necessary? Usually, Orochimaru took his time training the boy, which annoyed him to no end.

"That should do it." Kabuto mumbled as the green glow faded from his hands. "Now then," he continued, "follow me." He turned to Sasuke, who was pulling his shirt back onto his shoulders. He hesitated before standing.

"First, tell me where we are going." Sasuke demanded.

"As I said before," Kabuto answered, "you will see in time." With his efforts of receiving the answer he was searching for granting him no success, Sasuke stood and the two began their journey down a poorly lit corridor. After passing countless doors that closed off empty rooms, Sasuke spoke again.

"This is taking too long. Tell me where you're taking me."

"Just be patient." Kabuto stated. _Besides, you'll be itching to get away once you figure it out._ After several more long minutes, Kabuto stopped walking, as did Sasuke. The older of the two faced the younger. "This is where I am supposed to leave you. Lord Orochimaru is waiting for you in there."

Sasuke examined the door. It appeared to shield a room that was no different from any other located in this dull hideout. He hesitated before reaching his arm out to the slide the door aside and enter. He stepped into the dark room that was only illuminated by the weak candles from the hall. He walked to the center of the room and looked around, but did not see Orochimaru anywhere.

He turned quickly back to the entryway as he heard the door slide shut. In the darkness, he could make out nothing but two piercing yellow eyes that gazed at him. He recognized them instantaneously.

"Orochimaru," Sasuke began, "do you care to tell me why you had Kabuto drag me here?"

The sannin let out a twisted laugh, "Kabuto brought something to my attention today; something that I decided to put an end to."

Though Sasuke could not even make out the silhouette of the man hidden in the shadows, he focused a glare on the two bright eyes. "If you're just going to waste more of my time, I'll be leaving." Sasuke spat at his teacher angrily.

"That's exactly why I had you come here, so I could break that pretentious attitude of yours."

Sasuke's glare darkened as the man spoke. "I knew this would be a waste." He uttered as he began to walk towards the door where Orochimaru still stood. "Move so I can leave."

"You will not be going anywhere, my boy; not until I am through with you." The older male refused to move. In an instant, he grabbed Sasuke's wrist and flung him against the opposite wall. The young Uchiha fell to ground on impact. Surprised by the snake's attack, Sasuke quickly rose to his feet and attempted to strike the man. His fist was easily caught and his arm pinned to the wall by Orochimaru's hand.

Only seconds after, Sasuke could feel a warm, wet object slink across his cheek. _What is that? _Sasuke questioned while flinching away from the disgusting feel. In another short moment, his other hand was restricted from movement. The slimy thing crept down Sasuke's chest and reached the waistband of his pants before slithering inside. The boy's eyes widened with the realization of what was happening. The _thing_ was Orochimaru's tongue, and it was slinking down to his manhood.

In a desperate attempt to stop the sexual assault, Sasuke kicked at Orochimaru. He tried to knee him in the stomach, but his attempts were futile. Since his arms were bound by his master's bruising grip, he could not use any ninjutsu to aid his escape. The Uchiha gasped as he felt Orochimaru's tongue begin to wrap around his shaft. He had to come up with some sort of escape.

Sasuke was at a distinct disadvantage. For one, his eyes could not adapt to the pitch black room, while his master's were made to perceive light in the darkest of places. Along with this, Sasuke was still no match for the older male; after all, he was a legendary sannin who was still at full power since his body was relatively new. Realizing that he could not fight off Orochimaru using traditional ninja ways, Sasuke decided to settle for a different method.

Sasuke violently thrashed his leg towards the pale man's crotch, landing a direct hit. Orochimaru grunted as he felt the pain in his groin. The sannin's tongue retreated and his hold slackened. His grip on Sasuke loosened enough for the boy to pull free and hustle to the doorway. He quickly raced down the dull hall in attempt to reach the exit of the hide out.

Sasuke knew that this was his only chance to escape. He was sure that Orochimaru would make him regret his actions if he were to catch the boy. Sasuke pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and continued to run through the labyrinthine hideout.

About one hundred feet away, Sasuke saw a door open. Kabuto emerged from the newly revealed room; he was holding a syringe. The medic began to charge at the Uchiha, aiming the syringe at him. Sasuke debated turning around, but knew that Kabuto was no match for him and decided to force Kabuto out of the way. The younger of the two threw a kunai at the elder: it was a direct hit right between the medic's eyes. However, the man who should have fallen to the ground simply disappeared into a puff of smoke. Sasuke's eyes widened as he watched the scene unfold before his eyes. He then felt a needle pierce his flesh.

"You must be really out of it," Kabuto's voice came from behind, "falling for a clone like that. I never thought those eyes would fail you in such a way." Sasuke's body began to get numb and his muscles gave out. He sunk to the floor. "Don't worry, Sasuke, this drug will only put you to sleep for a short time." As his eyelids began to sag, Sasuke could feel Kabuto pull him into the room his clone had emerged from. Only seconds passed before the Uchiha fell into a deep slumber.

**So that's it for chapter one! The next chapter gets into what happens after Sasuke wakes up... If you would like to, please review and give me any suggestions you have. And as I said before, I know it's not "socially acceptable" to write this kind of stuff, but I enjoy writing it. So don't make any comments about that! Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter gets much more graphic with Orochimaru and Sasuke. Youv'e been warned**

**I do not own Naruto**

"Oh, Sasuke…" a voice entered the Uchiha's head, though his vision had not returned, "you really are stubborn, aren't you?" As Sasuke began to awaken and his senses began to return, he realized who was speaking to him. "I didn't realize this would be such a struggle. I never would have imagined Kabuto actually having to tranquilize you. I suppose it's a good thing that he had devised that backup plan."

Sasuke opened his eyes. They were immediately met by yellow slits that stared down at him. He was sent into a panic as he realized that his arms and legs were bound. Orochimaru cackled as he watched the boy try to break free.

"Don't bother with that, boy. You can't break these binds. Only I can release you, but since you have caused so much trouble, that will be quite a while from now." Orochimaru said as his eyes roamed the completely exposed pupil.

Sasuke was never one to give in, but this situation called for such measures. "Please, just let me go." His voice shook with fear; Orochimaru picked up on this.

"Don't worry, dear Sasuke. I won't be too harsh this first time."

The Uchiha shuddered at his words. "Please, I'll do anything else!" He offered, but his negotiation attempts did nothing, for this is all the sannin wanted at the moment.

"Perhaps your offer would have helped you prior to now, but since you assaulted me and tried to flee, you have lost your chance at negotiating."

Orochimaru placed a hand on Sasuke's bare chest. "You really do have a fine body, my boy." The sannin commented as his hand began to explore lower on his student's figure. Sasuke cringed at the snake's words and touch, but he could not move away or protect himself.

"Please… Just stop…" Sasuke begged again. To his surprise, he watched as the hands moved away from his body. He was both shocked and relieved, until he realized why Orochimaru did this: it was to undress his own pale figure. Sasuke stared in horror as his master removed his clothing and tossed it aside. A sick smile appeared on Orochimaru's face as his hands were placed back on Sasuke's abdominal region.

Somehow, his hands seemed colder to the touch and his eyes more anxious. One hand found its way to Sasuke's length and began to toy with it. The Uchiha drew in a sharp breath as he felt his body betray him in Orochimaru's grip. Aroused by the sound the boy made, Orochimaru began to work his own shaft; when his arousal was physically clear, he positioned Sasuke so his face was level with his manhood.

The Uchiha would not go down without a fight. He thrashed his head away from Orochimaru's approaching member, trying to avoid contact with the disgusting thing. This displeased the sannin. He gripped Sasuke's hair and forced the boy to face his erection. He thrust his hips at the boy's mouth, but gained no entry. Sasuke kept his lips tightly sealed; he refused to allow such a thing to enter any part of him.

Dissatisfied yet again by Sasuke's action, Orochimaru forced the boy's eyes to meet his. "Open your mouth." He demanded, but Sasuke did not obey the command. The snake leaned in closer to boy. "Open. Your. Mouth." He pronounced every word clearly with a darker tone to his voice. Sasuke did not oblige.

Orochimaru harshly kicked Sasuke in the stomach; as soon as he let out a pained cry, his mouth was filled with flesh. Sasuke choked as Orochimaru's arousal thrust deep into his throat. Sasuke's eyes began to water as Orochimaru continued to slam his member into the boy's mouth. It was not long before Orochimaru released into Sasuke.

"Swallow it." The sannin commanded. He then removed his now flaccid member from the boy. Though Sasuke held the fluid in his mouth and tried to gulp it down in fear, the overwhelming urge to vomit overtook him.

Sasuke violently threw up the liquid, much to Orochimaru's displeasure. His body shook as he continued to dry heave. He had never felt so sick, so disgusted, so violated. "I told you to swallow. For that, I shall punish you further."

Orochimaru broke the binding on the boy's ankles and dragged him onto his stomach by his hair. Sasuke, still shaking, began to realize that the hell he had just gone through paled in comparison to the upcoming events. Without warning or any lubrication, Orochimaru slammed into Sasuke's hole.

Sasuke let out a blood curdling scream as he felt his untouched flesh rip inside of him. He clawed at the floor in attempt to pull away from the intrusion, but with bound hands, he had no escape. He had to endure the excruciating pain. Sasuke was repulsed by the sound of flesh meeting flesh and began to vomit once again. Orochimaru laced his fingers through Sasuke's hair and tugged his head back to prevent further vomiting.

"Don't get too worked up, boy." Orochimaru whispered into his pupil's ear. His thrusts grew more violent as he came closer to an orgasm. The pain was too much for the boy to handle. Tears streamed down his face as he begged his attacker to stop.

"Please! Please stop! I'll do anything you ask of me! Just please stop this!" He cried in terror. But his attempts at escape failed again. He could feel more of the fluid he just spit up fill his insides. Orochimaru leaned all of his weight on the torn boy.

"Sasuke, my purpose for this was to break you. I think I accomplished that in today's session, wouldn't you agree?" He laughed as he heard the boy beneath him whimper. He finally withdrew his now weeping shaft from Sasuke. He stood and began to dress himself as his eyes roamed possessively over the vulnerable Uchiha that remained on the floor.

Orochimaru advanced towards Sasuke again. The younger flinched away from the hand that was reaching for his face. It cupped his chin as yellow eyes met his. "However," the sannin mused, "I must reinforce that I am your superior."

"No!" Sasuke denied Orochimaru's statement. "I am your subordinate. I will do anything you wish, just please not this again."

"Oh, Sasuke, don't be frightened. As my subordinate, you will do as I please. You are mine." Orochimaru stated plainly. "I will send Kabuto to collect you and heal your wounds. Be a dear and don't protest his treatment. You will want to be healed for the next time." With that, Orochimaru left the room and the broken boy.

_Next time?_ Sasuke thought. He couldn't take this abuse again. Once was enough to have him questioning to take his own life and forget about revenge. He could not endure another round of this humiliating pain. He could not let Orochimaru break into him again. He tried to blink back tears; he was too strong to cry. However, the tears spilled over and rolled down his cheeks. He continued to sob until he heard footsteps.

He suppressed the cries as Kabuto approached him. He could not allow this man to see his weakness as well. Kabuto kneeled down and cut the restraints from his wrists. "Based on the begging screams I heard from you earlier," Kabuto said condescendingly, "I would guess that this exercise proved to be a success. Now get up, I have orders to fix you up."

Sasuke remained a crumpled heap on the floor. So Kabuto knew that he was weak too? Well wasn't that just fantastic. With a sigh, Kabuto lifted the Uchiha and carried him down the hall to his room. He placed Sasuke on his bed while he drew a bath for him.

"You need to wash off the blood and semen. It will help you heal faster if you are clean." Kabuto said. Sasuke cringed as he thought about the substances Orochimaru had left on him. "Now go wash. I'll wait in here for you." Sasuke slowly rose to his feet and painfully walked into the bathroom. He got into the tub and soaked for nearly two hours before appearing in the bedroom again.

He walked back into his room naked. He did not care that Kabuto saw his exposed form, for he had already witnessed it right after Orochimaru finished with him. Besides, Kabuto would need to remove his clothes in order to heal his deep, internal wounds.

Kabuto was silent as he let his green chakra seep into the boy's many injuries. He noted that they were bad and concluded it was from Sasuke being dry when Orochimaru entered, along with the fact that Sasuke had never before been taken in such a way. He knew that it would take several sessions to have Sasuke back to perfect health.

After he had done as much as he could at the time, the light haired man exited the room. The boy that remained was mentally and physically exhausted, so it did not take long for him to fall asleep after Kabuto's departure.


	3. Chapter 3

Several days had passed since Orochimaru's first assault, and Sasuke was relieved that he had not come back for more. Sasuke tried to avoid the snake as much as possible, though regular training resumed. However, the dynamics were slightly different than before. Instead of Sasuke calling the shots, he kept his head low and his mouth shut. He knew that it was only a matter of time before his master would request his presence again.

It was on the very same day that Sasuke thought about it when Orochimaru visited the boy again. This time, Sasuke did not scream nor fight. He was afraid of the consequences that would come from trying to defend himself from the sannin, though he knew Orochimaru would never do anything permanently damaging. After all, Sasuke's body was to be his next vessel, and Orochimaru wanted it to be in good shape.

Several weeks had gone by, and Sasuke had the routine down. Orochimaru would train him then follow him to his room. He would close the door and force himself on the boy. Sasuke learned to be silent and obey all orders given to him; it made the snake leave faster if he did this. After Orochimaru's departure, Kabuto would silent file in and heal wounds that resulted from all of the day's activities. Sasuke began to accept that this was his reality.

At the Akatsuki hideout:

It was the first time in a while that all of the members assembled in one location, but Pain had good reason for an event. "I have learned of troubling news," his deep voice muted all of the other conversations taking place, "it seems that Orochimaru is trying to obtain the three tails."

"That could be a problem." Kisame replied.

"Indeed," Pain agreed, "we need to gather information on Orochimaru so we can stop his efforts."

"And how are we supposed to do that, hn?" Deidara joined in. "Since those leaf ninja took out my man, Sasori, we haven't been able to learn anything about this guy. We don't even know where he is, hn."

"This is true. We need to strategize." Pain bellowed.

"I got a plan!" Hidan chimed in, "that damn kid brother of Itachi's is with him. Why don't we go get him? He's always with that bastard from what I've heard. He's gotta know something about the guy."

"That just may work…" Pain mused. "Yes, we could kill two birds with one stone. Take the sharingan from Orochimaru as well as gather intelligence on him."

"Great…" Deidara complained. "All we need is another pair of those disgusting eyes around here, hn."

"Hey Itachi, what do you think about this plan?" Kisame asked his partner.

Itachi stared blankly, "If it is beneficial, it should be done. However, you all seem to be overlooking one simple fact. We don't know where Orochimaru is. He has hideouts located all over the hidden sound. He could be at anyone of them, and we are unsure if Sasuke will truly be there as well."

"You make a good point, Itachi." Pain commented. "I will send the other five bodies I possess to search his different bunkers. Konan, you will send paper clones, as well."

"Understood." Konan nodded.

"Kisame, Deidara, you two will be the ones to capture Sasuke. Samehada will be useful for capturing him."

"Why do I have to go, hn? Send Itachi; he is his brother. He should be able to bring him down the easiest, yeah." Deidara complained.

"Even so," Pain replied, "you know very well that Itachi approaching Sasuke would only lead to trouble. We need to be discrete when abducting him, for Orochimaru is not to learn of who took him. Now go!"

Konan sent paper flying from the hideout to begin the search, and the five other bodies of Pain dispatched as well. Deidara and Kisame left shortly after, leaving fewer members of the organization sitting at the table. Itachi was the first to retreat to his room.

_How can I see Sasuke? _He thought. _After hurting him so much all of his life, I can't stand before him again. I know he has not progressed enough to avenge the clan, and I can't stand the thought of hurting him again… not after all I have put him through._ Sasuke's older brother sighed. He was going to have to face many challenges when Kisame and Deidara returned.

"You know, my man," Deidara spoke to Kisame, "We have been at this for almost six days now. I'm getting impatient, hn."

Kisame sighed, "You are always impatient." The pair continued walking through the sound village. They had not heard word from Konan or Pain yet, which meant that Orochimaru had not been located. This was proving to be more trouble than Kisame had originally intended. His impatient mind was relieved when paper swirled down around the two of them, forming the torso and head of Konan.

"I have located Orochimaru. We are also positive that Sasuke is with him, as well as another ninja. It's getting late, so rest and then go to the hideout in the early hours of the morning." Konan gave her orders and left.

"She's real bossy, hn." Deidara complained again.

"At least this will be over soon."


	4. Chapter 4

Orochimaru's hideout:

The day of training was almost over, and Sasuke knew what was going to happen next. Sasuke began the journey back to his room, expecting the snake to be on his heels, but surprisingly, the sannin turned off and went down another corridor. He was relieved that he had finally been granted a break from Orochimaru's torture. However, his now rather optimistic (compared to usual) mind went sour when he saw Kabuto approach him.

"Lord Orochimaru has summoned you to his personal quarters tonight." Kabuto said plainly. "He requests you immediately. Don't keep him waiting." He smirked and walked away. Sasuke was annoyed that he had lead himself to believe Orochimaru didn't want his body that night. Of course he did. He always did.

Sasuke slowly made his way to the snake's chamber; he knew what was coming, and though it had been going on for several weeks, Sasuke was always dispirited and in pain after the assaults. He stood before his master's door and slid it open. He peered in to see Orochimaru rise from a chair and greet him.

"You have been awfully quiet lately, my dear Sasuke," Orochimaru purred. "Is something the matter?" Sasuke bit his tongue. He wanted to scream at the man, for he knew exactly why Sasuke avoided conversation with him.

"Answer me, boy."

"Nothing is wrong." He replied emotionlessly.

'Good. You know, Sasuke, you can admit to enjoying these experiences with me."

"You know as well as I do that I hate this!" Sasuke spat back when the snake provoked him. Orochimaru smirked when he saw the panic flash in Sasuke's eyes when he realized his mistake. He was not supposed to use that tone with Orochimaru; that was what got him into this mess, though he had a feeling that it would have come eventually either way.

"Rather testy, today. Aren't you?" Orochimaru questioned his prey. "Now remove your clothes." Sasuke did not want to go through this hell again, but knew that denying the snake his body would prove to cause more pain.

Sasuke stripped down to his boxers, but hesitated before going farther. He finally removed the last garment that shielded him from entry. "You are so perfect, Sasuke." Orochimaru remarked as he began to strip down. Sasuke diverted his eyes from the sannin's partially erect member. "I think we will start with something a little different."

Orochimaru pushed Sasuke back to his bed and laid him down on his back. The snake's tongue slithered down and wrapped itself around Sasuke's flaccid shaft. Though he did not want to be satisfied in any way by the sannin, his body, unused to such pleasurable touches, began to respond.

At the same time he worked Sasuke, Orochimaru forced the boy's legs back so he could enter him. He thrust in, completely sheathing himself in Sasuke. He watched eagerly as the boy's face contorted in agony. He continued to thrust in and out, pounding mercilessly against the Uchiha's rear while his tongue continued to stimulate the boy.

Sasuke felt a new kind of degradation. Instead of being able to cover his face from Orochimaru as he usually did, he was forced to let the snake watch his expressions that only proved his weakness. Instead of feeling pure and utter disgust as usual, pure hatred was the emotion that conquered his mind. He wanted to kill this man for doing such unspeakable things to him!

His thoughts were cut short as he felt himself and Orochimaru release simultaneously. Orochimaru looked at Sasuke, satisfaction written across his face. This enraged the Uchiha more. How could this man have caused him to feel such pleasure and affliction all at once? He could not understand it, yet his body betrayed him and allowed the satisfaction that the sannin was longing for.

Only an instant after the elder removed his relieved arousal from the boy, Orochimaru took Sasuke by the hair and pulled him from the bed and onto his knees. "Don't make this difficult, understood?" Orochimaru said as he moved his member towards Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke obeyed and allowed the thick organ to slide into his mouth. "That's a good pet." Orochimaru laughed as he watched the Sasuke's head bob.

_Pet? _Sasuke thought angrily. _I am not his pet!_

Acting on his renewed rage, and not considering the possible consequences, Sasuke bit down as hard as he could on the flesh that was deep in his throat. Orochimaru hissed and pulled away. He staggered back from where Sasuke sat on the floor. He turned and began to walk towards the door. Was he leaving? Had Sasuke succeeded in fighting off the assault? The answer came too soon.

Orochimaru reached into a cabinet that was locating near the exit. He turned back and approached Sasuke again, kunai in hand. "I would never do anything that would permanently scar that perfect body, but thanks to Kabuto, any injuries I inflict can be healed without leaving a mark." He kneeled down in front of Sasuke who was now desperately pushing himself across the floor to get away from Orochimaru. "Don't run away; it will only hurt a little."

Orochimaru cackled as he grabbed the boy's hair and pulled him close. Without any hesitation, he drove the sharp object into Sasuke's curse mark. Blood rushed to the surface and glided down the Uchiha's back. Sasuke screamed as the knife was plunged deeply into his skin.

He clutched Orochimaru's arm and tried to pull it away, but Orochimaru bound his wrist with his free hand. He scraped the blade down Sasuke's chest, leaving a trail of crimson blood behind. Sasuke breathed in ragged gasps as the blade sliced through his skin. The sannin continued to cut down Sasuke's abdomen, making his way to his exposed genitals. Suddenly, he removed the blade, only leaving about an inch of unmarked skin above Sasuke's shaft.

The boy sighed in relief when Orochimaru stood. "If you pull anything like that again," he hissed, "I will not hesitate to cut up that area as well. Now leave." He commanded. Sasuke did not hesitate for even a moment; he bolted to the door and fled to his room. When he arrived, he felt no comfort from the familiar surroundings.

He redressed himself and looked down at his chest. The smeared blood and red cut was easily visible since his shirt did not cover his chest. He sighed and plopped onto his bed. Kabuto would come by in the morning to seal the mark. But all he could think about now was how his whole body ached from the various forms of torture, and how he was powerless against the abuse.

Sasuke rose at an early hour; he wanted to avoid contact with Kabuto. He did not want anyone else's hands on him after his experience the night before. He decided to go and practice his lightning style jutsu by the nearby river. When he arrived, he felt another presence.


	5. Chapter 5

"It's been a while, eh Sasuke?" a tall, blue man commented. Sasuke immediately recognized the cloak. It was none other than Kisame, his older brother's Akatsuki partner. Sasuke glared at the man.

"Why are you here?" He asked the man before noticing another person at Kisame's side.

"He looks just like Itachi, hn." Deidara remarked.

_Itachi… _Sasuke growled in his mind. _If he hadn't murdered everyone and left me alone to rot, I wouldn't be here right now! I wouldn't have ever had to go through the last weeks in hell with Orochimaru if he were dead!_

"Come on, kid. We have orders to bring you back to base with us." Kisame stated. Sasuke didn't budge. The only person he hated more than the snake sannin was Itachi, so there was no way he was going to follow them and possibly encounter his brother. Not yet, anyway. He was still not strong enough to kill him.

"All these Uchiha guys are the same! So full of themselves, hn! They don't listen to anyone." Deidara scowled.

"Well, then… I guess we will have to take him by force." Kisame lunged at the young Uchiha, though Sasuke dodged the attack.

"I'll let you handle this one, okay my man?" Deidara said.

"No problem."

Kisame thrust Samehada off his back and hit the Uchiha with it. It quickly drained Sasuke's chakra and the boy fell to his knees. Had he not been so run down from the last few weeks, he would have at least been able to flee, but in his current condition, he was no match for the shark man. Sasuke began to lose consciousness and face planted the earth. Kisame then bound Sasuke's arms and legs and carried him back towards Deidara. "Let's go."

"Hn."

Sasuke came to in a dark room. He could feel the binds on his limbs. He began panicking. It was just like the first time Orochimaru violated him; he was tied as he woke to find the hungry snake. He began sweating and breathing rapidly. He violently thrashed his restrained body.

"Calm yourself." Sasuke heard an unfamiliar voice. "We aren't going to harm you unless you deny us the information we want." He looked up to see a woman with blue hair staring down at him. He searched the dark room for other faces, but realized the two were alone.

"I am to look after you until you are needed. My name is Konan, so if you need anything, you shall address me as that." She informed him. He glared at her in response. He could hear voices in coming from another room, though he couldn't make out what was being said, he recognized Kisame's and the blond who was with him earlier. He didn't hear Itachi, though.

A man entered the room. He had red hair and strange eyes; eyes like nothing he had ever seen before. "Bring him." The man said. Konan came over to him and sliced the rope off of his legs.

"Follow me."

Sasuke walked down the hall after Konan. He didn't know where he was going, but he decided not to run since there were most likely more s-rank criminals here. The pair entered a room that was lit dimly. He saw that there were quite a few other members in the room. He analyzed their faces so he would be able to recognize them later on. All of the men were sitting at a table, and Sasuke was forced to take a seat with them. As he turned to view the last member, a range of emotions bubbled inside him.

Itachi.


	6. Chapter 6

He mustered up the darkest glare he could and focused it on his older brother. Itachi simply looked back at him with emotionless eyes. Though the truth was he, too, was filled with emotions. Love for his brother, regret for the unspeakable things he put him through, sadness at the look of hatred he received by his glare, and so many more.

"Now," The red haired man spoke, "we need you to tell us everything you know about Orochimaru." It seemed that this man was the leader. Sasuke did not respond.

"Looks like he isn't willingly going talk." Kisame remarked.

"Damn brat! Let me force it out of him!" Hidan yelled enthusiastically.

"Calm down, Hidan." A masked man said; it was Hidan's partner, Kakuzu.

"We have received information that Orochimaru is after the three tails. What do you know about this?" Pain asked the younger Uchiha.

Sasuke honestly had no idea. Usually Orochimaru kept him in the dark about his plans. And even if the sannin had mentioned it, Sasuke didn't care enough to listen. "I don't know anything about it." He replied.

"We are aware that Orochimaru kept you at his side at all times. You must have some intelligence on this matter."

"I told you already, I don't know anything about it." Sasuke spit back.

"Tell me then," the leader inquired, "if you were not conspiring with him, what is it he had you do?"

Sasuke choked on his breath and started coughing. "…we trained." He finally managed to say. Itachi noticed that something seemed off about his little brother. Sasuke was usually so collected with his answers, but when asked the previous question, he seemed to panic.

Itachi reluctantly spoke, "Was that all you did?"

Sasuke was taken aback by the question. Not only because Itachi had asked it, but because he also seemed to realize that Sasuke was hiding something. He turned his head away from his brother, refusing to acknowledge the question. Itachi accepted the silence, after all he did, he had no right to act as the caring older brother he truly was. Sasuke turned to the leader.

"I assure you, I don't know anything about his plans. All I know is that he wants my sharingan." Sasuke muttered.

"Very well. We will question you further tomorrow. For now, Konan will show you to your room. Dismissed!"

The various members stood and scattered in different directions. Some went to their rooms and others to find some sort of entertainment. The only one who remained seated was Itachi.

"This is where you will be staying." Konan opened a door to reveal a basic room. It had a bed and a desk with a chair. There was a door on the right wall that lead to a bathroom. "You are to stay here unless someone comes to get you. There is a change of clothes in the bathroom for you. So wash up and change." Konan cut the bindings on the Uchiha's wrist off to allow him to bathe.

Konan walked out of the room and Sasuke made his way to the bathroom. He tossed his clothes on the floor and got into the shower. He had not bathed before leaving Orochimaru's lair, and therefore had crusted blood around his abused hole and thighs.

After Sasuke dried off and dressed in the plain outfit he had been provided, he then walked to the bed and sat down. The boy was mixed with emotions. He was still unstable from the abuse Orochimaru caused, and full of dark feelings since his brother was near. Only a few minutes later, he heard a knock on the door and saw a figure enter.

"Get away from me!" Sasuke growled as he realized who stood before him.

"Sasuke, please. I just want to…"

"I don't care what you want! I don't want you anywhere near me."

"Sasuke, try to calm down."

"Calm down? Did you really just say that?" Sasuke was going blind with rage. If he had not been so utterly exhausted, he would have been trying to beat his brother to a bloody pulp.

"Just tell me this… why do you have a cut running from your shoulder down past your pants?"

"It doesn't concern you. And _don't _pretend to care." Sasuke hissed.

"Please, just answer the question." Itachi hid the fact that his brother's words hurt him. He knew that he was the one who made Sasuke hate him so much, but he had no other options.

"It was just training."

Itachi closed his eyes and frowned. He did not believe his younger sibling. Though he was not sure what the mark was from, he knew that training was not the answer. "Simply training would leave a mark that runs that long."

"You weren't there! You have no idea! Now get out!"

"Sasuke, I know I have wronged you, but I'm just trying to help you now."

"Wronged me? Is that what you call killing everyone I ever loved and leaving me by myself? If it weren't for you, none of this would be happening to me! You have no right to try to 'help' me. You drove me down a path that lead me to where I am today, and look at me!" He shouted. Sasuke's eyes filled with tears, but he desperately pushed them away. He could not look weak in front of this awful man.

Itachi picked up on the self-loathing tone in his brother's voice. "Did you… do that to yourself?"

Sasuke glared at him. "No!"

"Then how?"

Sasuke looked down at his chest and saw the fresh wound. Harsh memories of Orochimaru ripping into him and then brutally stabbing him rushed to the front of his mind. He tried as hard as he could to hold back the tears that stung his eyes, but failed. They rolled down the sides of his face. Itachi came closer to Sasuke and looked down at his with concern showing on his face. _Is this just because I am here? _Itachi wondered.

"Why didn't you just kill me, too?" Sasuke choked out between sobs.

Itachi felt his heart sink to his stomach. "Sasuke…"

"You can't even begin to understand what I've gone through because of you." Sasuke let his body go limp as he leaned against the wall.

"Forgive me, Sasuke."

"I can't…"

"I know… But please tell me what happened to you."

Sasuke looked up at Itachi who was standing only feet from him. Why was he feeling so comforted by his presence? He hated this man, didn't he?

"It was Orochimaru." He mumbled. Itachi couldn't understand. Why would he want to scar the body that he had sought after for so long? It didn't make any sense.

"But why would he?" Itachi inquired with a comforting tone in his voice.

"He wanted to… to…" Sasuke didn't know how to answer. He couldn't say what had happened to him. And he couldn't figure out why he was confessing to Itachi. "…to prove a point." He finally finished. Itachi couldn't piece it together. He had known that Orochimaru was cruel, but he never would have expected something as horrid as what actually happened.

Sasuke felt so unsure of what was going on. For so many years, all he wanted was revenge. But now that Itachi was so close to him, trying to understand him, he could not figure out if revenge was truly what he wanted. _No! _Sasuke thought suddenly. _He's the one who killed mother and father. He's the one who pushed me into the arms of Orochimaru. He made me give up everything! I can't let myself be deceived by him after all that!_

The dark glare returned to Sasuke's face. He stared at Itachi with it. "I've told you want you want to know, so get out."

"Alright." Itachi walked back to the door and left. He knew that there was more to the story, and he was determined to uncover it. Something that could make Sasuke break down, especially in front of him, must have been terrible. What could Orochimaru have done to his poor brother?

Sasuke sat on the bed, thinking about everything that had happened to him in the past month. He decided that he should try and get some sleep since his confusion couldn't reach him in slumber.

He woke up several hours later, with a pain in stomach. He hadn't eaten in over two days. He got up and made his way to the kitchen that he had walked passed earlier. He found some instant ramen and settled on that. As he ate, he could not understand how Naruto ever ate such disgusting food. He shrugged it off and slurped the noodles down.


	7. Chapter 7

Itachi woke up several minutes later. He walked down the hall and saw that Sasuke's temporary room was unattended. He stepped inside; perhaps he could find clues about what had happened to Sasuke. Though only Sasuke's dirty clothes were new to the room, he took a look around anyway. He saw the clothes on the floor and picked them up. He folded the shirt and placed it on the desk. He them took the pants and began to fold them as well, but froze when he noticed a stain on them.

He examined the crimson stain that was located where Sasuke's hole would be if he was wearing them. Itachi's face broke into an expression of pure rage as he realized what Orochimaru had done to his little brother… He tossed the garment on the floor and left the room in search of Sasuke.

He saw the younger Uchiha seated at the table eating ramen. He approached the table and took the seat next to Sasuke, who shifted uncomfortably at the closeness of his brother.

"Sasuke…" Itachi began, "Sasuke, we need to talk." He said holding his head in his hand.

"I already told you about the cut, so…"

"I know what happened with Orochimaru." Itachi turned to face Sasuke.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke retorted. Itachi couldn't have known. Only three people were aware of the truth: Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke, himself.

"It means that I know about what Orochimaru has done to you. Sasuke… why didn't you tell me?"

"I- I don't know what you're talking about. If this is about the cut, Orochimaru… he got mad at me over something and… well… he did that." Sasuke looked away from his brother. "Besides, it's none of your business anyway."

"I saw the blood stains in your pants."

Sasuke's eyes widened. So he did know? That explains how… "That was… from… umm…" He had to think! He had to come up with a cover. "That was from when Kisame hit me. He knocked me down and I started bleeding."

"You don't have to lie. I figured it out. He was trying to get you to have sex with him and…"

"Shut up!" Sasuke screamed. "You don't know anything!"

"Sasuke… I'm so sorry. If it hadn't been for me, you would have never gone to that awful man and you would never been violated like that."

"Stop it! You're wrong!" Sasuke's voice cracked and tears began to fall again.

Itachi grabbed Sasuke and pulled him into his arms. He pressed Sasuke's head into his neck and held him tightly. Sasuke let his weight fall onto his older brother. He felt ashamed as he leaned into Itachi. He did not want to receive any comfort from the man he was supposed to hate. Yet, in this moment, Itachi was being the big brother that Sasuke remembered.

"Don't worry, little brother. You are safe now." Itachi said as he stroked Sasuke's dark hair. "I told you I would always be there for you, and that is the truth." The younger Uchiha cried into his brother's shirt for another few minutes before pulling back to look at Itachi.

"I don't understand… Itachi, why are you acting like you care?"

Itachi looked down, "Sasuke, I have always cared. I will explain it all to you later, but I don't want to put any more stress on you at the moment." He pulled Sasuke back into an embrace.

As the brothers heard people starting to move around and make their way to the kitchen, Sasuke pulled away and stood from his seat. He took the cup of noodles that he had been eating and discarded them on the way back to his room. He didn't want to see anyone else for the time being.

When he reached his private area, he sat down and began pondering what had just happened. _He has always cared? _Sasuke thought. _That has to be a lie… he left me to rot; he took everything away from me. _The boy was so confused. He could not bring himself to believe that Itachi really cared about him.

_He seemed so sincere… but he always was good at lying. _Sasuke continued to think about the matter until he came up with an answer. Itachi must have been trying to get information about Orochimaru from him. It all made sense. Itachi must have known that Sasuke would be overly emotional when he saw his older brother and took advantage of that in order to extract his intelligence on the former Akatsuki member.

Sasuke become furious as he came to his conclusion. Toying with his emotions when he was in such a terrible place in his life was beyond cruel, but all Itachi ever did to him was cruel. Moments later, his door opened and a blond man came in.

"I'm supposed to bring you out to the meeting area, hn."

"I'm staying here." Sasuke retorted and turned away from the man.

"I really dislike the Uchiha clan…" He sighed and walked over to Sasuke. He took Sasuke's wrist to lead him out of the room, but the touch of this man made him lash out. Memories of when Orochimaru grabbed his wrists flooded his mind.

"Let go!" He screamed and kicked Deidara in the stomach. Deidara jumped back and released the boy.

"I didn't ask for this trouble, hn. Just come on."

Sasuke didn't want the man to touch him again so he followed him out of the room. They arrived at the same area he had been interrogated at yesterday and took the same seat. He saw Pain approach him.

"Are you prepared to give us the information we request?"

Sasuke just looked at the man. He understood that they could not be sure he was telling the truth, but having to speak of his former master again was irritating.

"Orochimaru must have assigned missions for you to complete. What were the most recent ones?"

"The last one was to eliminate the Anbu members that discovered where we were."

"I see… they, too, must have knowledge Orochimaru's quest for the three tails. How long ago was that?"

"About five weeks."

"You're saying that the last mission you were sent on was over a month ago?"

Sasuke scowled. "Yes."

"This damn brat! He's lying!" Hidan yelled.

"For once you may be right, Hidan." Kakuzu added. "It's hard to believe that the last mission was that long ago. He was probably on other missions that had to do with the three tails this past month."

"That seems logical." Pain replied, staring intently at Sasuke.

"I'm not lying." He said plainly.

"Surely he would want to put you to use in exchange for strength. You expect us to believe that all you did was train this past month?" Kisame asked. Itachi glared at his partner for asking that, but kept his silence.

Sasuke's anger faded into anguish. "… It's true." Though his mind was screaming about how he was forced into painful affairs with Orochimaru nearly every night.

All of the Akatsuki watched Sasuke. He could not deny that his story was sketchy, but he could not allow them to find out about the abuse he was made to endure. He stared down at the table, not wanting to meet the eyes of the accusing members.

"He's lying, yeah." Deidara said after minutes of silence. "Just look at him; he won't look at anyone. That's a key sign of lying, hn." Sasuke's eyes flashed red with his sharingan as he turned to the blond.

"You better shut your mouth, Deidara." A strange masked man said in his obnoxious voice. "He looks angry."

"No one asked you, Tobi!" Deidara hollered back.

"Silence!" Pain bellowed. "Kisame, return Sasuke to his chamber at once. Then report back here." Kisame got up and signaled for the younger brother to follow him. As he trailed after the tall man, Kisame spoke.

"You know, kid; I'm surprised you haven't tried to attack Itachi yet. From what he says, you jump at every opportunity you get to strike at him."

Sasuke didn't reply. He didn't want to talk about his older brother. Kisame stopped walking and opened the door to Sasuke's room and let him walk inside. He then closed the door and made his way back to the other members.

Upon his arrival, Pain announced a message to the group: "We are getting now where with this. It's clear that Sasuke knows more than he's letting on. The next time, we are going to have to force the answers out of him. He is the only source we have, so we must extract any knowledge he has. This meeting is over." All of the men, and Konan, stood up and walked away. Several of the group went into the next room over to watch television or read; Itachi joined them.

"Your brother really is a pain." Hidan said when Itachi entered the room.

"I suppose." Itachi replied, not agreeing with the words that came out of his mouth.

"He's obviously still protecting Orochimaru, hn." Deidara said. "Why else would he lie about not having missions?"

"Maybe he's not lying." Itachi protested.

"You're defending him? Itachi, I though you hated your brother." Kisame remarked with a puzzled look spread across his face.

"I'm merely saying that may be telling the truth. Why would he have said that his last mission was over a month ago? He may be naïve, but he would know that such a claim is unbelievable. If he was trying to lie, he would have indicated that his last mission was only several days ago."

"Even though that makes sense, there's no damn way Orochimaru would have just let him sit around for a month." Hidan replied.

Itachi didn't answer. He was not willing to tell his fellow members what truly went on with Orochimaru and Sasuke.

"Itachi, it only makes sense that Sasuke would be covering for Orochimaru, hn." Deidara added.

"Though it has been years since I last saw him, I can still read my brother quite well." Itachi said and left the room. The others stared after him.

"I don't know how you do it, Kisame, my man." Deidara said. "I'd have killed him by now if he was my partner."

"I can say the same for you." Kisame said, eyeing Tobi.


	8. Chapter 8

Itachi walked to where Sasuke's room was and opened the door. He stepped in and walked towards his little brother. He was greeted by Sasuke's attempt to punch him.

The elder easily dodge the blow and looked at Sasuke. "I came to see how you were."

"You don't have to pretend anymore. I figured out your cheap trick." Sasuke scowled at Itachi.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Sasuke."

"That's a lie! All of the sudden you act concerned about me, you try to get me to trust you again, and it's all so you can find out what you want to know about Orochimaru!"

Itachi's eyes widened when he heard Sasuke's words. "Sasuke, that's not true at all. I really am concerned about…"

Sasuke interrupted. "Just cut it out! I know you don't really care about me."

"Little brother…"

"I don't want to hear your lies! If you really cared, you wouldn't have killed everyone and left me to suffer! If you cared, you would have stopped me from ever going to _that_ man. You have no idea how awful that was!"

Sasuke's eyes began to tear up again. Itachi felt remorse wash over him. "You may not believe me, but I too have suffered from this."

"Is that so?" Sasuke answered as he wept. "So you know how it feels to have someone force his way inside of you? You know all about the guilt that comes with him forcing you to get pleasure out of it? And when you fight back, you get a scar to remind you of what happened!" Sasuke stammered as he lifted his shirt to reveal the gash running down his chest. He fell to the floor in a crumpled heap as he broke down in front of Itachi.

Itachi was speechless. He had only seen Sasuke act this way once before, when his parents were taken before his eyes. "Sasuke, I…" Itachi began before his brother cut in.

"Don't even try to act sympathetic, Itachi!" Sasuke barked.

Itachi kneeled down to Sasuke's level and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're right. I have no idea of how that would feel, neither physically nor mentally. But I want you to know that causing you this amount of pain was not my intention."

Sasuke pushed his brother away, "I don't care what your 'intention' was. You are the only reason I have gone through this, and I will always loathe you for that." Itachi knew that what Sasuke said was true, no matter how much he despised hearing the words come from his little brother that he cherished so much. He realized that he had to tell Sasuke the truth behind his actions in order to relieve Sasuke's pain.

Itachi stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Informing the young Uchiha of the truth was going to be a challenge he never saw coming.

Hidden leaf village:

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune exclaimed as she barged into the fifth hokage's office.

"What is it, Shizune? I'm very busy!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we have just received confirmation that the Anbu members we sent in search of Orochimaru last month have been killed. Remains were found near the edge of a river."

"Damn it all! How could we not have heard about this sooner?"

"Well, we knew that something had happened to them since they had not reported back, but we just received word that their bodies were found."

"Have the bodies examined; I will get a team together to go and search for Orochimaru. Now go!" Tsunade yelled. She was beyond angry at the situation.

"Yes ma'am!" Shizune yelped and ran out of the room.

Naruto was sitting in his pajamas opening a cup of instant ramen. He started slurping up the noodles when he heard a knock on his door.

He pulled it open, "Oh, hey Sakura! What brings you here?"

"Get dressed; Lady Tsunade wants to see us right away!"

Naruto shut his door and pulled on his orange jumpsuit. He then ran to the hokage's office. He opened the door and saw Sakura, a man with face gear, and a sickly pale boy with a midriff black shirt.

"Thank you for joining us," Tsunade said sarcastically since he was the last to arrive, "I received news earlier today that the Anbu team we sent to the sound village was eliminated. Shizune had the bodies inspected and learned that it was a lightning style user who killed them."

"Sasuke…?" Naruto questioned.

"We can't be certain that it was him, but we believe that he was most likely the one to do this. I have assembled this team in order to go investigate further. Your job is to go to the village and locate Orochimaru. Do not take any further action when you find him."

"Understood, Lady Tsunade." Sakura said.

"Now move out!"

The team of four reached the gate of the leaf village and prepared to leave. The man introduced himself. "My name is Yamato. I will be the leader of this mission, so you must follow my orders. Remember what Lady Tsunade said; do not do anything once we find him, even if Sasuke is with him."

Naruto looked away from the man. He was going to get Sasuke back this time for sure.

"My name is Sai." The sickly pale boy said with an overly enthusiastic smile plastered on his face.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Naruto asked and stepped away from the teen.

"Smiles make good first impressions."

"Enough talk," Yamato interrupted, "we need to go."

The team rushed into the woods and began their mission.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello! I want to thank anyone who is reading this! This is my first fanfiction ever, so I hope you a re enjoying it! I want to give you some info about when new chapters will be up: I usually write around 4,000 words a day, so that's about 3 or 4 chapters. I will try to post at least that many everyday, but I usually end up changing the plot because I decide that what I wrote was not fitting of the characters or would lead to a dead end in the story. I hope you will continue to read this if you like it, so without further ado, I present chapter 9! **

The group of ninja reached the border between the country of fire and of rice. The sun was nearly set, so the captain signaled for them to stop.

"It's getting late and we are nearly into the country of rice. We should stop here for the night and rest up. Tomorrow we are going to the sound village." Yamato announced.

Sakura sat down by a tree and leaned against it. She began thinking of her beloved Sasuke when Naruto came and sat down less than a foot away from her. She raised a brow.

"Why are sitting so close to me? Haven't you ever heard of personal space?" She asked.

"Sure I have! I just thought that maybe we could…"

Sakura hit him in the head. "I don't want you to finish that sentence, understand?"

Sai walked over to the two of them, "Naruto, if you'd like, I can do whatever it is that Sakura is opposed to. That's what friends are for."

The pair on the ground stared with wide eyes at the strange boy. "That's okay…" Naruto said awkwardly before turning to Sakura. "What's with this guy?" He whispered. The unpleasant emotions radiating from Naruto faded as the team leader approached.

"Alright," he began, "we need to strategize for tomorrow. We have no idea of what will happen in the coming hours, so we need to figure out some kind of plan to find Orochimaru."

"How are we supposed to do that if tomorrow's events are going to be a surprise?" Sakura asked.

"Well, we need to figure out a way that we can locate him. I'm thinking the best way to do that is to split up. We all need to keep a clone here; when someone locates him, the clone will be informed and relay the information to the others."

"That sounds like a good plan, Captain Yamato, but what if one of us actually encounters Orochimaru? We certainly don't stand a chance against a sannin alone." Sakura informed him.

"I'm well aware that he is quite powerful. Alright, we will split in to partners."

Naruto was filled with joy since he would get a chance to be alone with Sakura, but his satisfaction was crushed when Yamato spoke again. "Naruto, you're with Sai. Sakura, you will be with me."

"Understood." Sakura and Sai agreed in unison.

"What?" Naruto yelped. "You're putting me with this freak?"

"Shut up, Naruto! He's the captain, so do what he says!" Sakura responded angrily as her blond friend began to complain. He finally silenced himself as a pout set on his face.

"Alright, so now that we have that settled, we need to determine what our course of action will be. The land of rice isn't very big, and the sound village is just a small part of that area. I believe that we should be able to locate where Orochimaru is by tomorrow if we work diligently. Now get some rest; you will need all of your energy." The members of the squad prepared camp for the night and settled in to get some sleep.

The sun was slowly breaking over the horizon line when Yamato rose from the ground. "Get up, everyone! We have a big day ahead of us!" He hollered at the still sleeping teens. They slowly got up and repacked their bags.

"Is everyone ready?" Yamato asked.

They all nodded.

"Good," the captain replied, "and remember, if we find where Orochimaru is residing, do not approach him or take any action. Especially you, Naruto."

Naruto grumbled as he was singled out, but nodded his head in agreement.

"Alright, split up!" He shouted. Sakura followed Yamato as Sai and Naruto went in the opposite direction. The latter pair did not speak as they began their search for the secret lair.

Finally, Naruto spoke up when he had grown sick of Sai staring at him out of the corner of his eye. "Stop looking at me like that. It's really creepy."

"I apologize… it's just that I've been wanting to ask you something since this mission started." Sai said as his gaze returned to the trees in front of him.

"When you want to ask someone something, you should just ask instead of look at them like you want to kill them."

"Oh… I see." Sai said, making a mental note of his new social information.

"Well, go on… What did you want to ask me?"

"It's just that from everything I have heard about you, you are set on saving this Sasuke person. I don't understand why."

"It's not really any of your business," Naruto answered with an irritated tone, "but I want to save Sasuke because he is my friend. Even though I didn't see it at first, he always accepted me and could relate to the suffering I went through." Naruto grew sad as he thought about the last time he had seen his best friend. He failed to help him then, and felt obliged to rescue him this time, for reasons other than just fulfilling his promise to Sakura.

"You call him a friend, but it he chose to betray you and the village. I see no point in aiding someone who would decide on that path."

Naruto starting fuming as Sai criticized Sasuke. "You don't know anything about him! So stop trying to act like you have all the answers! Maybe he did choose the wrong path, but I'm not giving up on him! I never will!"

In a way, Sai wished that he could understand Naruto's resolve. However, with his lack of emotions, he could not figure out the boy's devotion to his so called friend. _Sasuke, _Naruto thought, _I hope you're okay._


	10. Chapter 10

The other pair of shinobi was scouring the land for any secret passages or locations, but thus far had no such luck. Abruptly, Yamato signaled for Sakura to halt.

"Captain, what's…" Sakura began to ask before Yamato quickly hushed her. She peered through the trees to try and see what the man was looking at. He eyes widened as she realized what it was.

Orochimaru was making his way through a clearing just ahead. The two leaf members were watching him intently when he stopped and turned towards them.

"I know you are over there." He said casually.

Yamato and Sakura stepped into the clearing, but remained quite a distance from the sannin. They stared each other down.

"This is rather troublesome; I didn't plan to fight anyone today. Oh well, this isn't going to be much of a challenge." The snake smirked.

Before Yamato could speak, Sakura's emotions took over. "Where's Sasuke?" She cried.

Orochimaru laughed. "I can't tell you that."

"You better! Or I'll… I'll make you regret it!"

Orochimaru erupted with laughter again. "As sure as I am that you would," he said sarcastically, "I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. I don't know where he is at the moment, either."

Sakura tightened her fist and seriously considered charging at the man, but Yamato gripped her wrist. "That's enough, Sakura. We can't take him on. Even if we had the aid of Naruto and Sai, the odds of winning would still be in his favor." He turned to face Orochimaru, "We don't want a fight. We are just passing through to reach lightning country."

"For some obscure reason, I don't believe you. However, I have more important issues I must deal with." Orochimaru replied. His quest of finding Sasuke took priority over a fight with a former experiment and overly emotional teen. With his last statement made, he continued onward.

"Captain Yamato, we have to go after him!" Sakura urged him, but her efforts were futile.

"We can't just go after him. He would sense us and then we would get attacked. It was extremely fortunate that he was preoccupied; we may not be standing here if he had decided to assault us."

"But he could be heading to his hideout!" She refuted, though she knew that Yamato was right.

"That's enough. He knows we are here, so our best option is to report back to Lady Tsunade."

Yamato relayed the information through his clone system back to the Naruto and Sai; the four met up at camp site they used last night.

"You mean you saw Orochimaru and let him escape?" Naruto demanded.

"You know as well as I do that we stand no chance against him." Yamato replied.

"But he could lead us to Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That wasn't the point of this mission!" Yamato shouted back. "We can't do anything else now that Orochimaru knows we are here. He will keep an eye out for us, and we can't fight him! It's too dangerous."

"I don't care about any of that! We have to go after him!"

"Naruto… he's right." Sakura added.

"So you're giving up, too?" He interrogated.

She was taken aback by his question before answering in a serious tone. "We must obey the orders we receive."

Naruto stared at Sakura. He could not believe what he was hearing. He never expected Sakura to give up on an opportunity to retrieve Sasuke. He lowered his gaze, "I guess that's true…"

"We are going back to the leaf village now." Yamato ordered and took off. Sai followed him immediately, but Sakura and Naruto hung back for a moment.

"I have a plan," Sakura whispered, "we are going to get Sasuke."


	11. Chapter 11

**This chapter is pretty short, but it gets intense! Enjoy!**

Darkness had once again claimed the world. Sasuke lay on his bed and tried to sleep, but the memories of what he had confessed to his brother crushed that hope. He wondered what Itachi now thought of him. After all, his older brother had witnessed him collapse on the floor after going ballistic as he spoke of his experiences. Though his hysteria was justified, it still annoyed him to know that he had shown that side of himself to Itachi.

It had been several hours before Sasuke heard anyone approach the door again. He shifted to face the wall as he hear steps approach his door; he figured it was his brother whom he had no desire to see. He then heard the door slide open. He didn't look to see who it was; he didn't care. Whoever it was approached the bed that Sasuke was laying on. The figure stood less than a foot away from him.

"I never would have expected you to try to escape." Sasuke held his breath as he recognized the voice. "And to think you would come here, my dear boy." Sasuke turned to see if it was truly who he thought it was.

There was no mistaking those yellow eyes: it was Orochimaru.

"If you come along quietly, I will not make you suffer." Orochimaru said. Had Sasuke fallen asleep and become victim to a bad dream? No… it felt much too real. The reality of the situation was proven when Orochimaru grabbed his wrist and pulled him from the bed. He attempted to pull his arm free but gave up when Orochimaru's grip tightened. Sasuke did not make a sound due to his fear that the sannin would punish him for attempting to acquire help.

After the two successfully exited the Akatsuki hideout, they raced to a new underground lair. Orochimaru held Sasuke's wrist in a death grip the whole time. Once they arrived, Orochimaru pulled the boy into a room. Sasuke's breath became labored as he sensed what was coming.

Orochimaru ripped Sasuke's shirt off and threw it to the ground. "Sasuke," he purred, "did this not prove anything to you?" He asked as he traced a finger over the long scrape on the Uchiha's chest.

"No… I… I mean…" Sasuke tried to answer, but was so afraid that he could not form a sentence.

"I warned you what would happen if you disobeyed me… and yet you still tried to run away from me?"

"I… they… no…" Sasuke began to hyperventilate.

"Get a hold of yourself."

Orochimaru pulled a kunai from his pocket and turned the boy around. He shoved him into the wall. He cut Sasuke's pants away, and then proceeded to do the same with his boxers. He took the kunai and shoved it into Sasuke's hole. The edge of the blade ripped open his flesh and blood streamed down the back of his legs and dripped to the floor.

Sasuke let an atrocious scream tear up his throat. He began shaking uncontrollably and sobbing harder than he ever had. Orochimaru removed the blunt object before replacing it with his own arousal. He pushed all the way into the Uchiha, placing all of his weight on the younger, mashing him against the wall. "This is just the beginning Sasuke…" He laughed and pounded against the boy again.


	12. Chapter 12

**This chpater was really exciting to write! We are finally going to get clues on Sakura's plan... I wonder what it could be? Enjoy! Please review if you have time, I would really like to know if you like the way the story is going. Thank you!**

At the Akatsuki hideout:

Itachi woke with the sun as usual. He rose from his bed and walked down the hall. He debating on checking up on his little brother, but decided against it since Sasuke would probably be aggravated by his presence. Itachi began to make himself a simple breakfast, and only moments after he sat down to eat, Kisame entered the kitchen.

"Morning, Itachi." Kisame said while making himself something to eat.

"Morning."

"Itachi, I wanted to ask you about something… Yesterday I saw you go into Sasuke's room and then I heard him start to scream like you were trying to murder him. What was that all about?" He questioned as he took a seat across from his partner.

"Let's just say he wasn't overly happy to see me."

Kisame snickered. "Well, you expected that much, didn't you?"

Itachi sighed. "Yes, I did."

The next person to enter the room was the only female in the organization. Konan took a seat next to Itachi at the table.

"Aren't you going to get something to eat?" Kisame asked the woman.

"I will in a few minutes." She replied while stifling a yawn.

More members began to groggily make their way to the kitchen. Before the hour was up, all of the Akatsuki were present.

'Deidara," Pain said, "go get Sasuke. We are going to get answers from him, through force if necessary."

"What?" Deidara replied. "I got him last time, hn. And he kicked me in the stomach!"

"Why?" Hidan asked. "Did you start coming onto him?" He started to laugh hysterically as he insulted Deidara. Itachi held back an evil stare when Hidan made such an assumption about his little brother.

"Shut up, Hidan! All I did was grab his arm to pull him out here and freaked out. And I'm not gay! So top implying it, hn."

"Well if you didn't wear your hair like a damn girl, I wouldn't!"

"That's enough! Pain scolded the two bickering members. "Deidara, just go get him."

"I don't need this, hn…"" Deidara mumbled to himself as he went to fetch the younger Uchiha. When he arrived at the doorway, he could sense no chakra. He opened the door and looked around. "Damn it!"

He rushed back down the hall to the others. "He's not there, hn!"

"Damn brat! I knew we shouldn't have been so soft on him! Going easy on someone only gives them a chance to get away!" Hidan shouted.

"What do you mean he's not there?" Kakuzu asked.

"I mean he's not there, hn. He wasn't in the bathroom either. Looks like he ran off."

"Damn kid probably went back to that snake guy." Hidan muttered.

"Shut up, Hidan." Kakuzu snapped.

"Why don't you make me, you old bastard?" Hidan spit back.

"If you could die, you would most certainly be dead right now!"

"Enough of this!" Pain screamed. "We have a serious problem, so stop acting like children!"

Hidan sighed and sat down, "so what now?"

"We need to go after Sasuke." Pain responded.

"Why can't we just kill Orochimaru, hn? All he's doing is getting in our way." Deidara commented.

"We can't do that. It is crucial that we do not draw attention to ourselves. I want everyone to go search for Sasuke; we need to bring him back here."

"But we don't have any idea where he went, hn."

"Deidara's right. He could have traveled all the way to the sand village by now." Kakuzu said.

"That makes no difference. Orochimaru is a threat to our plans. We can not simply take him out; word of his death would spread at an immense rate and every nation would then become aware of who killed him. If they were to discover our motive of capturing the jinjuriki, our task would become much more complex. The simple solution is to find Sasuke. Since he has intelligence on us now, he could easily inform Orochimaru of our location and intentions. We must prevent this."

Several members of the group nodded as others just sighed at the troublesome situation. However, they obeyed the order and broke into their usual partners. The groups of two scattered from the hideout in pursuit of Sasuke.

Itachi and Kisame decided to go to the land of rice, which harbored the sound village.

"Itachi," Kisame began, "do you think that Sasuke returned to Orochimaru?"

"I can't say for sure."

"I suppose no one can…"

Itachi was certain that Sasuke would not have willingly returned to the sannin. However, he did not think that his brother would have been abducted, either. He saw that possibility as rather impossible since an intruder would have to sneak past nine S-rank criminals. He figured that Sasuke decided to try to escape since Itachi had caused him great emotional pain yesterday. Whatever the case was, Itachi was determined to find his little brother.

Village hidden in the leaves:

The squad had just reached the entrance of the village. "We need to report to Lady Tsunade about our encounter with Orochimaru." Yamato said as the group walked through the main gate.

"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto said cheerfully.

"You seem much more positive than you did earlier…" Yamato said suspiciously.

"Oh… I'm just glad to be back; that's all! Besides, we did find out a little."

"Yeah," Sakura chimed in, "at least we gained a little knowledge on Orochimaru."

"I guess that's true. I'm glad to see you two aren't too upset anymore." Yamato smiled. "Now let's get to Lady Tsunade's office."

As they walked to the hokage tower, Sai watched his new teammates with suspicion. _I don't understand,_ he thought, _they were so upset when we at the border, but now they are filled with joy… It seems a bit odd to me, but emotions are such strange things…_

When they entered the hokage's office, they saw Kakashi speaking with Lady Tsunade.

"Nice to see you up and around." Yamato said to his former Anbu teammate.

"I'm glad to be out of the hospital, too." He smiled under his mask.

"Since you're back, I'm willing to believe you found Orochimaru's hideout?" Tsunade cut in.

"Well, not exactly."

"Then why are you back here?" Tsunade squinted.

"We came across a problem during the search; Sakura and I ran into Orochimaru."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "You ran into him? How? What happened?"

"He was walking around in the forest we were in. He didn't try to fight us, but he did say something worth mentioning: he claims that he doesn't know where Sasuke is. We can't be certain that that's the truth. However, our discovery lead to the failure of the mission, so decided that our best move would be to report back to you, Lady Tsunade."

"I see…" Tsunade said.

Kakashi spoke before Lady Tsunade could finish her statement. "He didn't try to engage you in battle?"

Yamato looked at Kakashi, "No. He said he had other things to take care of and ran off. We didn't want trouble, so we had no choice but to return."

"Hmmm…" Kakashi hummed as he thought over the situation. His attention turned towards Naruto. "I have just one more question for you, Yamato." He suddenly pulled a kunai from his pocket and through it at the boy.

"Kakashi!" Tsunade yelled as the weapon traveled through the air and sliced into Naruto's cheek. To everyone's surprise, (except Kakashi) the blond teen turned to white smoke and disappeared.

Kakashi returned his gaze to an utterly shocked Yamato. "How did you not realize that this was a shadow clone?"


	13. Chapter 13

Somewhere near the sound village:

"Looks like they just caught on." Naruto said. "One of clones got destroyed."

Sakura looked at him, "Took them a while. I wasn't sure if Captain Yamato would fall for it at all, but it looks like that wasn't the case."

The two teammates snickered as they thought about how easily they fooled the others. Sakura pondered the situation.

"Naruto, now that they know that we aren't really in the village, Lady Tsunade will send someone after us."

Naruto sighed, "That's probably true, but we can't let anyone stop us from getting Sasuke back! I failed him once already, but this time I won't lose!"

Sakura smiled at the boy's resolve. _You're so sure of yourself, aren't you, Naruto? _She thought. _I just hope you're right._

Somewhere else near the sound village:

Itachi was getting impatient. There was no word of his brother's location from any other Akatsuki members. He had no leads either, that is until he saw a familiar face. Itachi held up his hand to halt Kisame.

The partners watched a grey haired man walked into the woods up ahead. "That man is Orochimaru's apprentice. We will follow him to see if he goes somewhere worth investigating." Itachi said as the two silently trailed after Kabuto. As they went deeper into the forest, Kabuto abruptly stopped. He looked around before revealing a secret entry way that lead underground. Just when he was about to enter, the two men ambushed him.

Kabuto let out a grunt as he flew to the ground from a blow. He sat up and smirked when he saw his attackers. "Well if it isn't Itachi Uchiha…"

Itachi glared at Kabuto before giving orders to Kisame, "You can deal with this one, Kisame. Take his back to base; he has more knowledge on Orochimaru than anyone else. I'll go and get Sasuke."

"I can deal with this kid," Kisame smiled while pulling Samehada from his back, "but how can you be sure Sasuke is in there?"

"I can sense his chakra." He said before entering the cavern. He silently walked through the corridor that led to the interior of the hideout. When he reached the main area of the underground lair, he realized how much of a challenge finding his brother would be. This place was huge, and it would take a long time to navigate the labyrinth. He couldn't hesitate any longer, so he began his quest of searching rooms.

Only several minutes after he started, he heard a distance scream. He recognized the voice right away: it was Sasuke. He took off running in the direction of the cry; his eyes turned blood red as he triggered his mangekyou sharingan. He tried to suppress the thoughts of what could be happening to his little brother but could not manage to abolish them. Itachi hustled down to the area that the screams came from.

The room that Sasuke was located in:

The poor Uchiha continued to scream as the sannin finished with him. "That's enough for now, Sasuke." Orochimaru said as he pulled away from him. He dressed himself and left the room. Sasuke's body shook out of pain and fear. This torture was far worse than before the Akatsuki took him; it had made Orochimaru angry that he had disappeared, so the snake would assert his dominance over the boy much harsher now.

Only about ten minutes after Orochimaru had left, Sasuke heard footsteps outside his door. He froze with fear; usually Orochimaru gave him some time to himself after abusing him, but this time it seemed as if he wanted more right away. The door slid open and Sasuke pressed himself into the corner of two walls, trying to shield himself.

"Please, don't do this again…" he choked out. The room was dark, so he could not make out the features of the person approaching him. The person kneeled down before him and put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched at the touch.

"It's alright, Sasuke." The intruder said.

"Brother?"

"Come on, we need to get out of here." Sasuke stood up and walked to the nearby dresser. He pulled out his usual outfit and put it on. Itachi lead Sasuke through the halls and approached the exit. He had an overwhelming urge to kill Orochimaru for his actions, but knew that Sasuke needed to get away from this place, and that was his first priority. When they reached the exit, sunlight streamed down and bathed them.

Since it was dark underground, this was the first time Itachi managed to see Sasuke's condition. He had bruises on his limbs and was bleeding in several spots; he didn't stand up straight and his head hung low.

"Sasuke, I'm so sorry I didn't get you sooner." Itachi said as he examined his beaten brother.

Sasuke didn't say anything at first, but then whispered a reply, "it's fine… at least you came." Itachi's heart felt heavy as he heard his brother's words. He embraced Sasuke warmly.

"Let's go." Itachi said. Though Sasuke didn't really want to return to the Akatsuki hideout, he wanted to be somewhere far away from his current location. After about an hour of traveling, Sasuke paused.

"Itachi," he said exhausted, "I can't go any further today."

The oldest Uchiha understood completely. Sasuke had gone through a lot, so he did not push him beyond his limit. "That's fine, Sasuke. We can rest here." The two sat down in the shade provided by a large tree and began to replenish their energy.

After several minutes of silence, Sasuke asked Itachi a question. "What did you mean when you said that you suffered, too?"

Itachi was not expecting that to come up now, but he figured he should answer the boy. "Sasuke… When I did that to our clan, I didn't want to."

"Then why?" Sasuke asked, not sure whether or not to believe Itachi's words.

"The Uchiha clan was planning to attack the village for reasons that I cannot fully understand. Being a member of the Anbu and an Uchiha, the leaders of the village knew that I could stop this from happening and keep peace in the village." Itachi sighed; he never wanted young Sasuke to find out about this. "They knew that I would do anything to prevent another war, so they ordered me to take everyone in our clan down."

Sasuke got angry at his brother. "How could you do that? How could you betray everyone?"

"Because I wanted to protect you, Sasuke." The younger of the two was shocked at the revelation. "I knew that if we went to war, you along with our other family members would die. However, if I did not allow this to happen, I could ensure your safety."

"No… You're lying…" Sasuke said as the gears in his head churned. Itachi had to be lying. There was no way that Itachi had cared about him that much.

"I'm not. If I didn't care, you would be dead right now."

Sasuke cringed at the words. It was true… Itachi left Sasuke alive. He never truly understood why. Though Itachi said it was to test his abilities, it still didn't make much sense to the young Uchiha. Why would Itachi leave someone who could become his biggest threat alive? It became apparent that Sasuke's big brother was not lying.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. I shouldn't have left you alone. My mistakes are what caused you this pain you feel today… I should have taken better care of the situation and told you the truth from the beginning, but I wanted you to become strong and…" Itachi stopped as he felt Sasuke's arms wrap around him.

"If what you are saying is true, I have wronged you by loathing you for so many years." Sasuke said as he embraced his brother.

"No, Sasuke, that was also my fault."

"Even so," Sasuke added, "I'm relieved to know that you are still the older brother that I admired years ago."

A small smile played on Itachi's lips. He returned Sasuke's hug and silently thanked his brother for acquitting his actions.

**This chapter was pretty hard to write. I didn't want to make Sasuke and Itachi seem too mushy, but I also wanted to make it clear that Sasuke still loves Itachi, even after everything. Hope you liked it!**


	14. Chapter 14

The sun was beginning to lower itself in the sky as Naruto and Sakura continued their search for the lost Uchiha. They had been at it for hours, and their hope was beginning to decay.

"Naruto… Maybe, maybe we should go back home."

"What? No way! What if he's just up ahead and we give up? We can't go back!"

"You're right," Sakura said being reassured by Naruto, "let's keep looking."

Naruto suddenly froze. He turned to Sakura, "do you see that?" He asked, pointing towards a figure in the distance.

Her eyes got large as she saw what he was talking about. "That's a member of the Akatsuki!" She recognized the robe on the figure that sat in the distance. "Why isn't his partner wearing a cloak, too?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "That's not just any member… that's Itachi Uchiha." His glare was dismissed as he realized who the other male sitting with Itachi was. "And… that's not his partner… That's Sasuke!"

Without thinking, Naruto blindly darted towards the brothers; Sakura hesitantly followed him. Naruto pounced on Itachi, who was taken off guard by the attack and was shoved to the ground. Sasuke was shocked as he watched his brother be pushed down by his former teammate.

"Naruto?" He asked, unsure of what just happened. He thought that it may be an illusion since he had been so tired.

"Sasuke!" Naruto ran to his friend's side after leaping off of Itachi. "Sasuke, I…" He trailed off as he witnessed Sasuke's beaten form. He grew angry and turned back to Itachi, who was rising to his feet. "What did you do to him?" Naruto screamed at the older brother.

Itachi was offended by Naruto. He would never do such a thing to his little brother, though most people did not know this. "I…"

Naruto cut him off before he had a chance to get out the second word. "Liar!" Naruto screamed at Itachi, though he had not really made a claim. Sakura rushed in and kneeled down by Sasuke.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. We are taking you home." She assured him before pulling out kunai and aiming them at Itachi.

"Both of you, stop!" Sasuke shouted at his former comrades. Shocked, the two of them turned to face the bruised teen.

"Sasuke, look at yourself! We can't let Itachi get away with doing that to you!" Naruto said defensively as Sakura nodded in agreement. They could not understand why Sasuke would be defending his brother.

Sasuke painfully rose to his feet, cringing as he did so. "Sasuke, don't over exert yourself." Itachi said as he watched his brother tremble as he tried to stand. Naruto glared at Sasuke's older brother for showing what he believed to be false concern.

"I'm fine." He replied before turning to Naruto. "Itachi didn't do this to me."

"But… how?" Naruto asked.

"That doesn't matter." Sasuke replied. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"We came here to get you from Orochimaru!"

"Well I'm not with him anymore, so you can forget about that and just go home."

"We aren't going anywhere without you!" Sakura shouted at Sasuke, who was struggling to stand.

Itachi watched the three teens bicker; he wasn't sure if he should say anything, after all, he was planning to return Sasuke to the leaf village. Itachi knew that Sasuke would oppose this; however, the best option for his little brother was to be in the safety of the village and be surrounded by his friends.

"Would you just stop? I don't need or want your help." Sasuke said.

"By looking at you, we can tell that you need help. And I don't care if you don't want it; you're going to get it!" Naruto retorted.

Sasuke sighed and sunk back to the ground. Convincing these two that he truly was in good hands was going to be impossible. Naruto stepped closer to Sasuke and kneeled down.

He placed a firm hold on Sasuke's arm and started to pull him across the ground. "Let go of me, you loser!" The Uchiha growled and violently threw a punch at Naruto. To his surprise, his fist was caught by his older brother. Naruto and Sakura were both shocked when they realized that the older Uchiha was defending his enemy.

"They just want to help. There's no need to act violently towards them." Itachi said as he released Sasuke's hand. He then took Naruto's arm and removed it from his brother. "Naruto, you admitted that he is hurt badly, so do you really think dragging him across the ground is a good idea?"

"Unhand Naruto!" The disagreeing group of four all paused and looked to see who was speaking.

**This is getting hard to write! I have the basic idea of what is going to happen next, but actually writing it is proving to be a challenge! It will probably be another day or so before I get chapter 15 up because of that! Thanks for reading! **

**Oh! and someone left a review that I couldn't respond to asking if this was going to include NaruSasu. I don't think it will... I'm leaning towards the friendship side of their relationship. If you have any questions/comments/concerns leave a review and I will get back to you or use your advice to make the story better! Thanks again!**


	15. Chapter 15

**As I thought, this chapter was difficult to write, but I am proud of how it turned out! Let me know if you feel the same way :)**

Kakashi, Sai, and Yamato jumped down from a nearby tree. Itachi let go of Naruto's arm before having to block an attack from Kakashi. Before trying to assault him again, Kakashi looked down at his former student. "Yamato, I need you and the others to get Sasuke out of here! I'll deal with Itachi!"

Itachi sighed. "I really don't think fighting me is in your best interest. I don't want to quarrel with you, but I will defend myself." Though Kakashi knew that Itachi's abilities surpassed his own, he felt that he had a chance since awakening his mangekyou sharingan. As he debated his next move, the other four moved towards Sasuke.

"You just don't get it! I'm not going back with you!" Sasuke protested as they closed in around him.

"You're in no position to deny us." Yamato replied and used his wood style to bind Sasuke's arms against his torso.

"You're in no position to try and make my decisions for me!" He retorted as he struggling against the binding. With the teen fiercely struggling to get free, Yamato decided to tighten the restraints. As they constricted against his bruised flesh, he let out a pained cry. Upon hearing this, Itachi immediately countered Kakashi's strikes and dashed to his brother. He broke the wood off of Sasuke to relieve the pain it caused him.

"Are you hurt, Sasuke?" Itachi asked as he positioned himself in between his brother and Yamato. He knew that Yamato did not mean to cause his brother pain but became protective when Sasuke was injured by his jutsu.

"I'll be okay."

Kakashi did not know how to react when he saw Itachi showing genuine concern for his brother. He had murdered his clan and severely injured Sasuke the last time they encountered each other, and now he was worried?

As the leaf ninja contemplated their next move, Kakashi decided to resolve his question. "Why do you seem so concerned over Sasuke's wellbeing?" He asked Itachi, who was still blocking his little brother from the others.

"Sasuke is my little brother. It's my responsibility." The whole group was shocked when they heard the criminal's response.

"You've done nothing but lead him astray!" Naruto yelled back.

"That's true, but…"

"Shut up, Naruto! You have no right to say that; you don't even know a fraction of what Itachi has done." Sasuke voiced his opinion.

"You're right; I don't know most of the awful things he has done!"

"Yelling at Sasuke's not going to help anything, Naruto." Kakashi said to his enraged student.

"Well it's not like we can take him by force; if we even lay a finger on him, his brother freaks out. If we want to take Sasuke back, we have to get through Itachi first."

"As simple as that sounds, Itachi's considered to be one of the most skilled ninja of this generation. Taking him on would be an extreme challenge and risk, even for a jonin such as myself."

"We have to do something!" Naruto protested.

"Sasuke won't just sit around if we attack, either. For some reason, he seems to trust Itachi at the moment. Even in his condition, I'm willing to bet that he would try to support Itachi if we fought."

"And that's why I don't want to fight." Itachi replied. "You can clearly see that he's not well enough to engage in combat. I don't want him to get hurt any more than he has been."

"I don't understand…" Naruto mumbled. "The whole reason Sasuke left us was to get strong enough to kill you. He hates you! Sasuke, what changed? Why are you with Itachi?"

"Before the last few days, I was limited to a one-sided view of my brother's actions. But now I see that what I believed for so many years was a lie." Sasuke answered.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Naruto demanded from his friend.

"It has nothing to do with you, so I'm not going to tell you."

"At least tell me why you won't come home now. If what you say is true, and you have forgiven your brother, you have no reason to stay out of the village. Please, Sasuke… Please come back…" Naruto pleaded.

Sasuke was filled with sorrow when his best friend began to beg him to return. Though he claimed to have severed the bonds from his old friends and mentors, he still cared for them. However, he felt that he could not go back to the village. Not after realizing what the village elders made Itachi do…

"Sasuke, you need to go back." Itachi said to his little brother, which put everyone in a state of awe.

"Itachi…"

"Don't protest. That is your home; it's where you belong." Itachi finally turned to attention away from the potential threat and looked at his precious brother. The five standing on the other side of Itachi were all astonished at his words.

"I can't! Not after finding out what they did to you!" Sasuke cried out. No one besides the brothers knew what Sasuke meant by that remark, but they did not interrupt since Itachi seemed to be the only one Sasuke was listening to.

"Though that did place a heavy burden on me, I wouldn't change what happened. I decided that you and the village were the most important things to me, so I resolved to take on that mission to protect what I valued."

"But how can I forgive them for what they put you through? They used you as their pawn, and we both suffered from it…" Sasuke began to choke up as he looked as his older brother. Itachi squatted down in front of his troubled brother. The other shinobi that stood nearby continued to remain out of the conversation, though they watched and listened intensely at the unfolding situation.

"Before Shisui died," Itachi began, saddened by the thought of his best friend's passing, "he told me that a true shinobi will endure self-sacrifice and protect what he treasures from within the shadows. It is because of this that I do not hold the leaf accountable for my misfortune, and neither should you, little brother. I am proud to say that I am a ninja from of the leaf village; one who was able to protect my precious brother and community."

Sasuke didn't know what to think of Itachi's confession. Sasuke was molded to seek revenge, and couldn't understand why the man who formed him to be that way did not desire vengeance as well. Itachi pulled Sasuke close to him; he could understand that Sasuke would be troubled by his resolve.

Naruto was finally compelled to speak. "I don't know the full story, but I do know that Itachi's right. You need to come back."

Sasuke smirked a bit. "I suppose if you sincerely feel that way, Itachi, I have no right to bear a grudge against the leaf."

Itachi smiled upon hearing his brother's words, as did Naruto and the rest of his group. Even Sai felt something when Sasuke showed clear resolve.

An elated Naruto looked down at his friend. "So you are finally coming home?"

"I guess I am, but only if Itachi returns with us." Sasuke replied.

Itachi sighed. "You know that I can't do that, brother."


	16. Chapter 16

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked.

"You know as well as I do that no one in the village would welcome me back with open arms… besides, part of my mission was to spy on the Akatsuki and prevent their achievements from being successful." Itachi answered. Naruto thought about his response. So that is why Itachi and Kisame fled at the hotel several years ago… Not because they could not take on Jiraiya, but rather because Itachi was not intending to succeed in the first place.

"Then I'm not going back, either!"

"You're still as stubborn as you always were…" Itachi said as he remembered Sasuke's insubordinate actions when he was a child.

_This is just great! _Naruto thought. _We finally convinced him to come back, but there's still something standing in our way! _

"I lost you once, and I'm not about to go through that again." The younger Uchiha told the older.

Itachi thought about Sasuke's statement. He felt the same way. Having to leave his helpless brother once was awful, but doing it again would cause his greater pain. Naruto thought about Itachi's proclamation about not being accepted by the villagers and decided to speak.

"You know, everyone hated me once… it was horrible. No one cared about me or wanted me, but I got through it and made bonds with people, and now people accept me and see me as more than just the nine tails jinchuriki." Naruto confessed to his hardships, being able to empathize with Sasuke's older brother.

"Even though you were able to do that, I don't think it will be quite as easy for me." Itachi replied. "You had no choice in the sealing of the nine tails, and even though you were ostracized for it in the beginning, people were able to see past it since you become strong because of it. In my case, it was just seen as a ploy to gain power: something I willingly chose and committed instead of being forced into."

"But you were order to do it!" Sasuke declared.

"Even if people did hear about that fact, no one would believe it. And if they did, it would only foster mistrust in the village. I won't allow myself to be the reason people begin to doubt the leaf village."

Kakashi concluded that it was his turn to speak. "Itachi is right. From all I have gathered, he sacrificed everything for the safety of two things, one of which being the village. Challenging such a selfless decision is not just, especially when it may destroy what he sought to preserve." Itachi nodded in agreement with his words.

"I see your point, Kakashi. However, you are only looking at the situation from Itachi's point of view." Everyone was surprised to hear Sai offer support in the matter since he lacked emotions and social skills. "Naruto has proven to me that bonds serve as an important part of life. Though my training has caused me to lose the connections I had with my brother, I have seen that the links between people are the reason we continue to forge onward. If Sasuke's older brother were to abandon him again, who's to say that Sasuke would not become like me and discard the ties he currently has? He may begin to block out emotions because they were too overwhelming to maintain in the past and not be able to understand another. Being forced to live in a world of solitude for so long turns you into nothing but a puppet to be manipulated."

"For someone who is utterly clueless when it comes to understanding people, that was really insightful." Sakura commented as Naruto and Yamato looked at Sai in disbelief.

Itachi's mind was being bombarded by the different viewpoints that one could view this predicament with. It seemed that his decision was yet again going to sculpt out his brother's fate.

"Before you decide, I have one more thing I must say to you."

**Coming up next... find out who needs to offer Itachi one final piece of advice and what words he or she (though it's not Sakura, so he) has to offer the struggling older Uchiha! **


	17. Chapter 17

Itachi turned to the speaker with an open mind.

"If you forsake me again, I will never forgive you." Sasuke said coldly.

The oldest Uchiha grew heavyhearted as his brother's words processed in his mind. He knew that Sasuke was speaking the truth, but could bring himself to accept that reality. "I can't blame you for that… but I also can't let myself allow myself to cause you more misery than I already have."

Naruto perked up again. "So that means you're coming back?"

"I have brought enough grief to my little brother, so I will return in order to prevent that from happening any longer." Itachi smiled at Sasuke who was also expressing joy. "However," he began, causing everyone's spirits to drop a little, "you are the only people who know the truth, though none of you are aware of the full story. The councilmen in the village would be the ones to allow me back into the village, and they are the ones who set up that mission. I don't think they will just let me casually walk back in."

"That's a good point… However, Lady Tsunade is already mistrusting of those three and wants a reason to get rid of them. This would be the perfect way." Sakura replied.

"It's worth a try." Naruto added, smiling excessively at Sasuke. He was overjoyed at the thought of his best friend finally coming home.

"It won't be easy, but I suppose it's the only option we have." Itachi replied.

"Then let's get out of here!" Naruto shouted gleefully.

The others all agreed, but Sasuke was still in no condition to go on the extensive journey to the leaf village. Before he mentioned that, something else came into his mind. "Itachi, what about the Akatsuki… I think they would notice if you disappeared."

Itachi groaned at the situation. "For now, we should just go back. I'll inform them of my defection later." When that was decided, they all turned in the direction of the leaf village and prepared to take off. Sasuke, who was struggling to stand again, caught the attention of his older brother. Noticing the concerned look on Itachi's face, Sasuke commented.

"I'm fine."

"Clearly…" Itachi replied. "You could barely travel for an hour before, and now you can hardly even get up."

"If you want, I could take a look at your wounds." Sakura offered.

Not wanting anyone besides his brother to know what he went through, he declined the offer. "I'll be fine; it's just some bruises."

The group turned back towards Sasuke. "If it was just bruising, you would be able to move more than that. Let Sakura look at you; she is a medical ninja now." Kakashi informed him.

"I said no." Sasuke stated again.

Itachi knew why his brother was not speaking the truth. Such a horrible thing would not be easy to speak of, so he proposed an alternative. "I can give you a piggy-back ride."

Sasuke looked at Itachi with alarm. "No!" He said; he would not succumb to such a degrading act, even though it paled in comparison to the previous degrading acts he was forced to commit.

"Don't act so proud. It's either that or having her treat you." Itachi knew that Sasuke would comply when he stated it that way.

"Fine…" Sasuke mumbled as Itachi pulled him onto his back. He felt ridiculous.

"This isn't so bad, right? It's just like when you were little." Itachi taunted. Sasuke grimaced at his words. Now that they could finally depart from the area, the leaf ninja began their journey home.

**I just wanted to let you all know that I put up a poll that you can find on my profile page. It's about which topic I should write about next. Check it out if you are interested!**


	18. Chapter 18

As they approached the village gate, Yamato spoke. "Okay, here's what we are going to do. Naruto: you, Sakura, and Sai will take Sasuke to the hospital. Kakashi and I will escort Itachi to see Lady Tsunade about his admission back into the village. Understood?"

They all nodded and stopped at the gate. Sasuke got off of Itachi's back and with his partially regained strength walked over to the other young members of the group. Itachi walked towards the others. They split off from each other and headed to their destined locations.

"How does it feel being back in the village?" Naruto asked his friend.

"Not that much different. I never had a grudge against this place, so I guess it feels like I've been on a really long mission and just got back." He replied.

"Well, I'm so glad your back, Sasuke. You don't know how heartbroken I was after you left!" Sakura said as she thought about his final words to her before leaving.

"Uh… sorry…" Sasuke replied, not really caring too much about her infatuation with him.

"I don't believe I formally introduced myself; I'm Sai." The palest of them all said. _Wow, _Sasuke thought as he looked over the teen, _I thought I was pale._

"I'm Sasuke, but I'm sure you already know that based on how many times Naruto used it while he was yelling at me."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. It seemed like things were pretty much the same. Sasuke was belittling him and Sakura was drooling over the Uchiha. The only difference was that an emotionless artist was with them now.

Sasuke hoped to draw little attention as they walked through the town since he did not want to encounter any of his former friends. He was in no condition to be asked questions or be fondled by people such as Ino and his other fangirls. However, his wishes of avoiding such people did not come true.

"Sasuke!" He heard a voice shriek. He recognized it immediately. Ino ran up to him and practically tried to pounce on him, but she was held back by Sakura. "Let go! I want to hug Sasuke!" She screamed.

"Look at him!" Sakura replied. "He is in awful shape; you shouldn't touch him right now." Ino examined Sasuke and took a step back. He looked terrible. Shortly after, Shikamaru and Choji came up too.

"Nice to see you back, Sasuke." Shikamaru said and Choji nodded.

"Yeah," Sasuke replied, "but right now I don't have time to catch up. I really think I should go to the hospital."

"I can see that. We'll come by later and see how you're doing." Shikamaru replied. "Come on Ino, you shouldn't bother him now, either." The trio walked away and the others proceeded to the medical center.

Once there, Sasuke was immediately taken to a room to be inspected. Naruto and Sakura went to his room with him, but Sai decided to go to the library. When Sasuke was finally situated in the bed, a nurse came in.

"Hello," She said, "I just need to get some general knowledge from you before any of the professionals can treat you. Would you mind telling me what happened to you?" She asked kindly.

"Yes." Sasuke answered. He didn't want to tell anyone of the horrors that he went through, especially not Naruto and Sakura.

"Well, I need to know so we can give you the proper treatment."

"Umm… I was… I mean I…"

Naruto stared at Sasuke as he stuttered over his words. "Just tell her Sasuke; it's no big deal. I'm sure they have treated other people with similar wounds before."

Sasuke scowled at Naruto. _No big deal? _He thought. _Easy for this loser to say! He has no clue! _"Uh, well I… I… I have to use the bathroom." He said and got up. The nurse sighed.

"Will you come and find me when he returns?" She asked. Sakura nodded.

She then turned her attention to Naruto. "What's wrong with him? Sasuke's always so smooth, but now he's acting like a frightened child."

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know… but I'll find out. You go get something to eat and I'll talk to him."

Sakura was hesitant to agree, but finally left the room. When Sasuke returned, Naruto stared him down. "What was that all about?"

"What?" Sasuke asked. He knew exactly what Naruto was referring to, but wanted to avoid the situation. Even when Itachi found out, it was not Sasuke that told him. His older brother learned about it on his own, so it was much easy when he was asked about it, though he still lashed out.

"You know what; all that stuttering and then leaving the room." Naruto replied.

"I had to pee." Sasuke said, choosing to ignore the first half of the question.

"What about you not answering that nurse's question?"

"She wasn't going to help me, so I didn't see a point in telling her."

"At least tell me, then."

"You're not going to help me, either."

Naruto let out a frustrated moan. Why was his friend being so difficult? Surely he was only injured in rigorous training, so Naruto could not understand Sasuke's refusal to answer the question. "No, but I am your friend. I want to help you; just because I can't heal you doesn't mean you can't talk to me."

"Can't you get it through your thick skull that I don't want to talk?"

"You know, you are exactly the same as before! Just as rude and critical as ever."

"And you're still a loser with no common sense!"

"I'm just trying to help you! Why are you being such a jerk?"

"I'm not being a jerk; you're being too sensitive."

"Just tell me what happened!"

"Just give it up. I'm not going to tell you anything!"

"Sasuke… don't tell me you did that to yourself…"

Sasuke was outraged at this remark. "Why does everyone think that? I've never hurt myself!"

"Okay, sorry. It's just that you always wore those things on your arms and you always hated everything…" Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Well I didn't."

"I believe you, but it's pretty clear that this is more than just training by the way your acting." Naruto decided.

"It wasn't training; I'll give you that."

"Please tell me, Sasuke."

"If you keep annoying me like this, I'm going to beat you up." Sasuke hissed.

"Like you could do that! Especially when you're in this condition."

"You want to see what kind of condition I'm in? Let's fight right now and I'll prove that I'm better than you, even like this!"

"I'm not going to fight you on the hospital roof again. I don't want to fight at all."

Sasuke looked down when he realized that he was trying to replicate the scene that occurred before he left several years ago. He felt bad for his actions and apologized.

"It's fine. I guess I'll go get the nurse and leave. If you don't want to tell me, I should respect that." Naruto said and left. Sasuke silently thanked his best friend. With the person he wanted to hide the truth from finally gone, Sasuke reluctantly confessed his situation to the nurse. She got the medical ninjas and they began to heal his internal and external injuries immediately.


	19. Chapter 19

"So you're trying to tell me that this man is innocent?" The hokage asked as Kakashi explained the situation.

"I know that it may be hard to believe," Kakashi responded, "but I truly believe that he has good intentions."

"We can't trust him. The third hokage would not have ordered such a thing upon the citizens of this village."

"It was not the third who ordered this." Itachi replied. "It was Danzo. The third was trying to resolve the situation by negotiation; however, Danzo presented me with an alternate choice in which a war would not result and Sasuke would not be killed. To protect those things, I accepted the mission."

"Danzo? I have always been suspicious of him, but we have no one to prove your theory. From what you have said, this was a mission that only the councilmen knew of. They would not admit to this, and any Uchiha whom you may have told were killed by your hand."

"I understand that you cannot trust me."

"Lady Tsunade, I will personally vouch for Itachi." Kakashi said.

"Kakashi, don't be hasty. He is a member of the criminal organization Akatsuki that has been plotting against us for years."

"Even so, when I saw how Sasuke acted around Itachi, I knew that something was not adding up. Sasuke's hatred of this man vanished, and the reason he left was to kill him. It's the only logical explanation."

"The bond that we could see between Itachi and Sasuke was very real and very strong. It was clear that Itachi was not simply manipulating Sasuke as a way to infiltrate the village." Yamato supported Itachi.

"To prove my allegiance to the leaf, I am willing to offer all of my intelligence on the Akatsuki. Being a member for so many years, I was able to gain much insight on the future plans and intentions of the organization. I will help in any way possible."

"I suppose someone who was truly loyal to the Akatsuki would not offer that." Tsunade thought over the different options in her head before reaching a decision. "Okay, you can stay in the village, but only on these conditions: you cannot leave the village, you cannot cause conflict with anyone in the village, and you must report to the interrogation center within the week. You will not be trusted, but due to the circumstances, I will not lock you up."

"Thank you, Lady Hokage." Itachi said gratefully. Itachi proceeded to leave the office and go to the hospital to check up on his little brother. As he made his way through the familiar streets, a teen with sun glasses and strange voice approached him.

"So it's true… you have come back." Shino said looking over the man. "Though you look somewhat different, too… Your hair is longer."

Itachi looked at the boy. He had no idea who he was. "Has my return really spread so quickly?" He asked.

"Yes."

"I apologize, but who are you?" Itachi asked.

Shino grew gloomy when the man he thought was Sasuke did not recognize him. "No one remembers me…" Naruto then approached them.

"Hey Shino, why do you look so down?"

"First you forgot me, and now Sasuke doesn't remember me either."

Naruto started to laugh. "This isn't Sasuke, Shino. This is his brother."

"My mistake… No wonder you look different." He said and walked away.

Itachi watched as the creepy bug boy walked away. "So, how did it go with granny?"

Itachi turned towards Naruto. "She is letting me stay here, but I'm not allowed to leave and I have several other restrictions. This may prove to be a challenge since I haven't informed the Akatsuki that I left. How's Sasuke?"

"He was still the same when I left; he wouldn't tell anyone what happened to him. I don't think anyone knows…" Naruto replied.

"I see… I have to go now. I told him I would visit after I cleared things up with the hokage."

"Well it's been a few hours since I was there. I'll join you."

"No, I think it would be best if I went alone."

"Why's that?' Naruto said when Itachi declined his offer.

"I think he would prefer to speak with me alone." Itachi answered and started to walk away, but Naruto followed him.

"You know what happened, don't you?" Naruto said in an accusing tone.

"I don't think it's my place to tell you about it."

"I'm really concerned about him. Please tell me!"

"I shouldn't, so stop following me. I'm sure he will tell you in time."

"But if you know, you could tell me."

"If you pester people like this, they won't give you anything." Itachi said. Naruto stopped following him and started to devise a plan. If he could get near Sasuke's room when Itachi was in there, he might be able to learn the truth behind the situation.

"Fine. Tell him I'll come by later, okay?" Naruto told Itachi. The Uchiha nodded and proceeded to the hospital by himself. Itachi reached the hospital went inside. As headed to Sasuke's room, he saw a team of medics exiting.

"How are you doing?" He asked his little brother as he took a seat at the end of Sasuke's bed.

"I guess I'm doing a little better, but I'm also humiliated."

Unknown to the brothers, Naruto was perched outside near the window so he could hear what they were saying. He was determined to discover what happened to Sasuke and was sure that they would discuss the matter.

"That's understandable. At least you're physically recovering."

"But having to admit what happened was degrading and then having to undress so they could examine me and heal me was even more embarrassing."

"I imagine it would be, but they aren't judging you. They just want to help."

"That doesn't mean it isn't uncomfortable. What did the hokage say about you being here?"

"She put some limitations on me, but other than that I am allowed to stay."

"That's good news." Sasuke said as he pulled himself to sit on the edge of the bed. "I don't want to lose you again."

Itachi smiled. "You won't."

The two brothers conversed about various things, never getting too deep into any particular topic. The sun had gone down long ago; it was getting late. Itachi looked at the clock on the wall and decided that he should leave. "It's pretty late; I'll be going now."

Sasuke did not want Itachi to leave… the fear of Orochimaru coming back to claim him like he did at the Akatsuki hideout forced its way into his mind. He tried to hide his fear and instead asked Itachi a question. "Where are you going to be staying?"

"The hokage gave me the keys to your old apartment. She said that I will be staying with you… well, by myself until you are out of here. I'll be back in the morning. That reminds me, Naruto said that he would be stopping by later, too." Itachi continued to the door, but before he exited, Sasuke spoke again.

"Itachi… do you think you could stay here tonight? I know it's stupid, but I don't want to be alone right now."

Itachi smiled softly. "I had a feeling you might ask that." The older Uchiha turned around and stepped back over to Sasuke's bed before sitting down in the same place. Itachi knew that Sasuke still had terror of the previous days' events whirling in his head. "You should try to get some sleep, Sasuke."

After a few minutes, Naruto realized that the brothers were not going to speak any more about the previous event. Having gotten nowhere in his quest for the truth, Naruto leapt from his perch and decided to go to his shabby apartment. He decided to try again in the morning.

Sasuke nodded and laid back down in the stiff hospital bed. The older Uchiha got up and moved to a chair in the corner of the room so his brother could stretch out comfortably. The brothers refrained from speaking; they were both tired and needed rest. Just as Sasuke began to drift into slumber, an eerie feeling washed over him.

His heavy eyes darted open and he sat straight up in his bed. Itachi, who had fallen asleep in the chair, awoke at the sudden movement. He looked over at his little brother who had a look of panic on his face. "What's wrong, Sasuke?" He asked while straightening his back from slouching in his sleep.

"What if he comes back?"

Itachi knew exactly who _he_ was. "Orochimaru won't come back."

"You don't know that…" Sasuke said in horror.

"You're right, I don't know for sure. However, I do know that if he gets anywhere near you, he will be killed by my hand." Itachi said in a serious tone.

"You underestimate him… he won't go down easily."

"When I first joined the Akatsuki, Orochimaru attempted to get my eyes. In less than ten seconds, his left hand was severed and fell to the ground. I think I could handle him again." Itachi reassured his brother. "There's no need for you to worry; that man poses no threat while I am with you. Try to get some sleep now, brother."

Though Sasuke was still unsettled, his brother's fortitude made him relax. Knowing that Itachi was watching over him allowed him to slip into slumber. The night continued on and morning was soon allowing the sun to rise again.

**This chapter was difficult to write. I don't know if it came out very well. I apologize if you don't like it :(. Tell me what you thought about it if you get a chance**


	20. Chapter 20

**I want to thank all of the readers who have encouraged me to keep writing this story! It was going to be rather short, but I keep getting new ideas of things to put in here, so I'm not really sure how much longer it will be. Thank you all for your support; I was able to reach chapter 20 thanks to you! **

As the light gradually intruded in Naruto's window, the boy began to stir. He got out of his bed and got a bite of something before heading off to the hospital; on his way there, he ran into Kakashi.

"Hey Kakashi sensei, are you going to the hospital too?" Naruto asked.

"Yep, I haven't had a chance to see Sasuke yet, so I figured I would pop in before reporting to Lady Tsunade." He informed his teammate.

"I'm headed there myself. I was going to go last night, but Itachi told me that he needed to speak with Sasuke alone." Naruto sighed, feeling excluded from his friend's life.

"They are brothers, after all. I suppose that's only natural." Kakashi commented as the two reached the doors of the medical center. They filed in and walked down the hall to the young Uchiha's room. Once they stepped in, they say two pairs of eyes look up.

"I thought we would be the first ones here. How did you get here so fast?" Naruto asked Itachi.

"I've been here since last night." He replied from the chair he had claimed yesterday.

"You're definitely looking better, Sasuke." Kakashi noted as he looked over the recovering Uchiha. "How are you feeling?"

"I guess I'm doing better." Sasuke replied.

"Glad to hear it!" Naruto shouted. "So I guess you finally told that nurse about it, huh?"

"Just a few minutes after you left, actually." Sasuke responded with no intention of telling Naruto any more than that.

"It's good to see you in better shape. I wanted to inform you that Lady Tsunade told me of your… situation." Kakashi relayed making sure that he did not bring memories into Sasuke's mind. That was not the case; instead, he was angry that Kakashi knew what Orochimaru put him through.

"How did she know?" He interrogated. Naruto was wondering the same thing; he had been trying to attain this for almost two days but still was unaware.

"She is the head of the medical units, so I believe it was reported to her that way." He replied coolly.

"That's just great! I didn't ask for this… I just wanted to forget about it, but now everyone seems to be learning about it!" The Uchiha shouted at his sensei.

"Calm down, Sasuke. You're getting too worked up over this." Itachi said rising from the chair and approaching his little brother. He put a reassuring hand on Sasuke's shoulder to try and appease him.

"I'm getting too worked up? Did you expect me to be happy that word of being Orochimaru's plaything is spreading?" He hissed and jerked away from his brother's touch. He froze as he realized the mistake he made… Naruto was in the room and Sasuke had referred to himself as the snake sannin's toy.

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked gravely.

"I… I mean as his… experiment. He was using me as an experiment." The other teen countered in attempt to cover his previous statement. Naruto had not known what Sasuke meant by "Orochimaru's plaything," but by the way his friend stuttered over his words to try to explain this was proof of lying.

"I don't believe you." Naruto stated.

"You don't have to; it doesn't matter to me what you chose to believe." He lied.

"If that was true, you wouldn't be trying to keep this from me!"

"Naruto, that's enough. If he wants to tell you about it, he will." Kakashi ordered his subordinate to stop. Naruto silenced himself and stormed out of the room. "I guess I should get going, too." Kakashi added before stepping away.

"I hate to do this, but I also need to get going." Itachi noted.

"Where could you possibly have to go?" His brother asked curiously. Itachi had just returned to the village and not many people were overly fond of it, so Sasuke could not understand where Itachi would be going.

"The hokage requires my presence at the interrogation facility. I'll come around after I finish up there." Itachi informed Sasuke before leaving the room. Sasuke fell back onto his pillow as loneliness settled upon him. He was relieved of this feeling all too soon when he saw a familiar figure slip into the room.

Sakura silently approached Sasuke's bed. Without speaking, she reached down and hugged him tightly. Still clinging to him, she spoke.

"Sasuke… I know what happened with Orochimaru. I'm so sorry! If I only I had found you sooner!" She yelped as tears glided down her cheeks. The Uchiha instantaneously pushed her away as she cried.

"What do you mean?" He growled.

"I was with… Lady Tsunade when… the medical team came to tell her… and…" Sakura choked out between sobs, "and… I'm so sorry!"

Sasuke looked at the girl with pink hair in disgust as she continued to blubber before him. "It doesn't have anything to do with you, so stop crying over me as if I died." He instructed. Sakura desperately choked back the water in her eyes.

"I want you to know that I'm always here for you…" She said sadly. "I'm still in love with you, Sasuke."

Any emotion he had on his face vanished. He looked directly at her with blank eyes. "You're still so annoying…" He sighed and collapsed onto the pillows yet again. Sakura was devastated after hearing his words. After all this time, all those years, he still only saw her as _annoying._ Before Sasuke returned his gaze to her, he heard he begin to wail again.

"I'm sorry. If that's how it is, I guess I should leave you alone." She whimpered.

"You take everything to heart… I didn't say I don't like you. You're just bothersome at times." He added before she broke down again, though he only said this so she wouldn't break into another crying fit.

"You do like me?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure…" Sasuke replied hesitantly. It wasn't true that Sasuke didn't like her, but she was his least favorite member of team seven with that ridiculous infatuation with him. Before their conversation could continue, an unknown ninja stepped in and informed Sakura that lady Tsunade requested her. She said her farewell to the Uchiha and left. Sasuke was now thankful for the loneliness he had previously wished away.

**Please review my work up to this point if you can! Thanks!**


	21. Chapter 21

Sakura entered Lady Tsunade's office to find Kakashi, Yamato, Sai, and Naruto waiting for her. She proceeded into the room as the hokage began to speak.

"I have received word from Jiraiya that Orochimaru has been moving around the sound village quite a lot lately. I am willing to guess that it is because he is trying to locate Sasuke; we also have word that Kabuto has been captured by the Akatsuki, but that part does not concern your mission." Tsunade said. "The five of you will search for Orochimaru and discover what he is doing. This mission is similar to the last in the regard that you are not to take the offensive when locating him. All you are to do is find out what he is up to. Understood?"

The five shinobi that stood before her nodded in agreement. After being dismissed, the group met up at the front gates. Kakashi relayed the formation they would use to infiltrate the sound village prior to their departure. With the basic commands being established, the team took off towards the land established by Orochimaru.

Back in the leaf, Itachi had just been released from interrogation and decided to take care of some other business. He briskly walked through the town, not wanting to make a scene by being recognized, and entered the tower of the hokage.

"I have a request." He said to Tsunade who looked up from her papers upon hearing his voice.

"The interrogation team said that you cooperated well and gave them all of the information they requested. I suppose for that I could grant you something." She replied.

"I need to leave the village to meet with the Akatsuki."

"What?" She exclaimed. "I can't allow that. I knew there was something suspicious with you coming back here…"

"You misunderstand. I need to speak with them to inform the organization of my defection from the organization. If I don't report to them soon, they will surely send someone to look for me. It could cause the village to be put in jeopardy."

Tsunade relaxed a bit. "I see… However, I can't trust that you won't relay information to them about the leaf village."

"Would I have just given all of my intelligence on them if I was still loyal to them?" He asked.

"I suppose not, but you could have planned it that way to fool me. If that's the case, your plan failed." She informed him smugly.

"Do you think I would tell you about my intentions to meet with them if I wanted to betray the leaf?" Itachi retorted.

"Fine. You have exactly eight hours starting now to complete your business and return. If you don't meet that requirement, I will send the Anbu after you and they will annihilate you."

Itachi thought about her words. He had surpassed the other members of the Anbu by the time he was just thirteen, so it was a hollow threat to him. "Fair enough. I'm going to stop in to see Sasuke and then leave. Thank you for your time." With that, Itachi was off to his next destination.

"So how did the interrogation go?" Sasuke asked as his big brother walked into his dull room.

"It was rather boring. They asked me some questions and I answered them."

"Sounds boring. By the way, the nurse told me that I can go home after the next healing session that takes place this afternoon."

"That's good news; you must be doing much better. I'm glad to hear it!" Itachi smiled. "Well, I have to get going again. I need to get in contact with the Akatsuki and I'm on a strict time limit. I should be back before you have returned to your apartment, so I'll help you get over there later." Itachi informed Sasuke of his task and took off towards the Akatsuki hideout.

After two hours of pure running, Itachi could see familiar scenery that marked the location of the hideout. He entered the lair and saw multiple pairs of eyes look at him.

"We were beginning to think you died, hn." Deidara said with a disappointed face when his thoughts were proven false.

"Yeah, Itachi, where have you been? It's been nearly three days." Kisame asked.

"I've been in the leaf village. I only came here to inform you that I am leaving Akatsuki." Itachi said to his now former allies.

"You can't just leave!" Pain bellowed. "You know too much… I can't allow that information to escape this location."

"I apologize, but I have Sasuke to look after now. I can't return here." He said as he calculated how much time he had used of his allotted eight hours.

"What the fuck?" Hidan asked. "I thought you hated that brat."

All of the members nodded in agreement, except for Tobi since he knew the truth. "I have other obligations to take care of now." He replied.

"I think we should let him go. What do you think, Deidara?" Tobi asked, and though he directed his statement at the blond, Pain knew it was truly meant for him since Tobi was the secret leader. Itachi also knew that Tobi was the one who pulled the strings in the shadows, though he was somewhat shocked when the other Uchiha made this proposal.

"That's ridiculous, hn! Why don't you ever shut up, Tobi?" Deidara spit at the masked man.

"Tobi's right, Deidara. He will be of no assistance to us now that he has placed his allegiance with the leaf again." Pain stated.

"Then let's kill this traitor!" Hidan yelled.

"No Hidan! That won't do anything either. Besides, it wouldn't be all that easy. Killing him would result in his leaf allies to attack us. Itachi, you may go."

Itachi nodded, but did not speak to the eyes that watched him. The only one who bid him farewell was Kisame, who was genuinely saddened by his partner's departure. "It's been fun working with you, Itachi. It's too bad our reign of terror is over."

Itachi did not agree that the two of them had a reign of terror, but always respected Kisame as a shinobi, so returned his salutation. "I don't know if I would call it fun, but I can't say I disliked working with you. I should be going now. It was a pleasure working with such a skilled ninja." Itachi complimented Kisame and truly meant his words.

"Same to you, and maybe one day we will engage in combat and see which one of us is truly the strongest." He smirked, though he already Itachi's abilities outmatched his own. With the burden of the Akatsuki being lifted, Itachi took his remaining three and a half hours to stroll back to the leaf village.

**In case some of you are wondering about why I am praising Itachi's abilities so much, it is because he is tied for the highest stats in the data book with Jiraiya. And Kisame also noted in part one that Itachi was stronger than him, so I'm not trying to make him seem stronger than he is. Though he is one of my favorites and I do enjoy giving him credit for his awesomeness! Haha :)**


	22. Chapter 22

"Why did she have to send five of us?" Naruto complained as his team pressed on towards the sound.

"You've already asked that two times, Naruto." An annoyed Sakura commented.

"I just don't get it…" He sighed.

"Alright everyone," Kakashi said, "it's silence from here on out. We are approaching the hideout that Master Jiraiya identified as Orochimaru's main base."

Naruto and Sakura ceased to bicker as they approached the hole in the ground. Kakashi went in first, followed by the three teens and then Yamato who took the rear. One they were all in, Kakashi motioned for them to begin scouring the area for any information. If they happened upon such things, they would take any scrolls or documents that had conspiracies written upon them. After thoroughly exploring every room, the leaf ninja returned to the entrance and began ascending to ground level.

"I didn't plan on finding leaf ninja here." A familiar voice purred as the light streamed down onto the emerging shinobi. Before the two senior members had a chance to stop him, Naruto barked at the man confronting them.

"What did you do to Sasuke?"

Orochimaru laughed at his question. "So I see this time he ran away to you."

"I asked you a question!" Naruto hollered.

"Naruto, stop!" Kakashi demanded. The jonin knew that a battle with Orochimaru would ensure fatalities, so he attempted to prevent Naruto from causing such an event.

"I merely put him in his place… though I must admit I miss his company." Orochimaru mused.

The snake's statement made Sakura cringe and verbally assault the twisted man. "You are repulsive!" She shrieked. "How could you even say something like that?"

"Is it wrong to admit that Sasuke was fun to play with?" The sannin snickered. This question drove Kakashi to his breaking point.

"You will suffer the consequences of your actions!" He snapped, but before he could turn his aggression to a physical attack, Yamato grabbed his arm.

"What exactly do you plan on doing? We can't take him!" Yamato desperately whispered to his senior. Kakashi knew this was true and tried to relax his tensing muscles.

"You're right about that." Orochimaru supported Yamato's claim. Naruto's eyes began to glow red as he continued to listen to Orochimaru's degrading statements.

"What did you do to Sasuke? I'm not going to ask you again!" Naruto stammered.

Orochimaru was intrigued by the blonde's state of rage and provoked him further. "I simply had sexual relations with him, and I must admit that it was quite pleasurable… though I don't think Sasuke would agree."

Naruto's tailed beast began to leak its chakra visibly onto the boy as his anger intensified. Yamato took notice immediately. Before Naruto could try to strike, he was bound with wood. "Kakashi, Sai, Sakura! You three need to keep Orochimaru busy while I restrain Naruto! We can't let him get out of control!" The three other ninja simultaneously took action against the sannin.

The nine tail's cloak began to recede under the suppressing power Yamato possessed, but Naruto's rage only grew. "Let me go! What do you think you're doing?"

"My role in this mission was to stop this from happening; I have to restrain you. It's my job right now!"

Naruto silently struggled against the thick binds controlling him. While he did so, Kakashi and the others gave it their all to fend off Orochimaru. "I thought the leaf village would have more skilled shinobi; I can see that my prediction was terribly wrong." The snake insulted their attempts to strike him.

"Sai, you and Sakura need to keep him distracted to create an opening for me to strike with my lightning blade." Kakashi instructed. The younger members obeyed. Sai used his jutsu to create a bird and assault from above while Sakura utilized her beastly strength to keep Orochimaru occupied on the ground. The jonin kept his distance, analyzing the situation for the time to end the battle.

The moment arrived and Kakashi drove his lightning through a vital spot. Orochimaru fell to the ground after being punctured by this jutsu. The three retreated to Yamato's side as he released Naruto. "Looks like it's over." Yamato commented.

"Yeah…" Kakashi panted

"It's a good thing it didn't drag on too much longer; I'm exhausted." Sakura added as she also huffed.

"I agree." Sai added in his fatigued state. The five pairs of eyes that stood away from the corpse all gathered on Orochimaru's body; as if they were in a horror movie, a white hand pried its way from his mouth. In less than ten seconds, a slimy Orochimaru stood before them in perfect condition.

"You didn't honestly think that did away with me, did you?" He asked. After examining the faces of the ninja before him, he commented again. "You did." He laughed. "And now, you are going to die."

**Oh no! What will happen now? :O**


	23. Chapter 23

**This chapter is short, but it is interesting... I think**

As Orochimaru began to weave signs to perform a jutsu, he suddenly became paralyzed. The leaf shinobi were shocked to see him pause for no apparent reason.

"This feeling…" Orochimaru said. "I know this feeling… But why are you here?"

"I was returning to the village when I heard some familiar voices. Looks like I got here just on time."

The team turned in unison to witness Itachi standing several feet away with his sharingan activated. He had put Orochimaru under a paralysis genjustu.

"Why would you come to aid the people that you betrayed?" Orochimaru asked in his frozen state.

"Though you think you have all the answers and have unlocked the truth behind everything, you know nothing." He replied. "And for doing such repugnant things to my little brother, you will be the one to die today."

Orochimaru grew angry at the words of the Uchiha who had taken away his jutsu once before. "You think it will be that easy to kill me?"

"I know it will." Itachi replied. However, Orochimaru's power was great and he began to break from the paralysis. Before anyone could take action, his hands clasped together and serpents flew at the small crowd.

With no time to dodge the attack, the five vulnerable individuals knew that fatality was the only outcome. However, a red blur appeared before them and blocked the attack. It was Itachi's susanoo. Only an instant after initiating the failed attack, Orochimaru was struck with a blade. The sannin first found the strike to be humorous since such a simple assault could easily allow him to shed his skin and renew his body. However, upon recognition of the blade quickly turned his spirits down.

"This is the Sword of Totsuka…" He stated plainly.

"That's right," Itachi remarked, "you will be sealed away by this blade and will remain that way for eternity. By removing you from this world I will also free those you have scarred with your curse mark."

"An end like this is one I never would have imagined for myself…" Orochimaru declared as he vanished to the realm where his soul would be kept forever. The stunned group of five turned to Itachi who retracted his sharingan.

"That was amazing!" Naruto shouted.

"You truly live up to being your title as the prodigy of the Uchiha clan." Kakashi added.

Itachi smirked. "I'm just glad I happened to be nearby when you were fighting him."

"Why were you nearby? Not that I object to you saving our necks, but didn't Lady Tsunade order you to stay in the village?" Yamato asked suspiciously.

"She did, but she granted me permission to go to the Akatsuki hideout for a short period of time." When he noticed the stares that begged to know why he would return to the organization's gathering place, he spoke again. "The details will have to wait; I only have an hour and a half to get back there." Itachi informed them. He then took off in the direction of the village with the others following.


	24. Chapter 24

It was nearly nightfall when the medical ninja's finished healing Sasuke.

"There," one of them said, "you should be well enough to go home now. Though, you will need to come back within the next week for a final healing session." Sasuke nodded as the small team exited. In his privacy, he began to wonder where everyone was. Itachi said he would come back, and he expected Naruto to barge in with questions at some point, but no one had been to see him in hours. He shrugged it off and got up.

He did not bring anything other than his clothes and sword with him, so it was rather easy to transport himself back to his apartment. As he walked through the main part of town, team ten approached him.

"Where are you headed?" Choji asked.

"Home."

"So you're out of the hospital?" Ino wondered.

"Yeah, but I still have to go back one more time."

"Why were you there anyway? I mean, you were banged up pretty bad, but we never heard what actually happened to you." Shikamaru informed Sasuke.

"It was training." Sasuke declared.

"Orochimaru must have put you through some training for you to look like that!" Choji commented as he scarfed down a bag of chips.

"You could say that…" Sasuke mumbled.

"At least you're okay now! You don't know how upset I was!" Ino announced.

Sasuke sighed. He didn't want to deal with another over emotional girl that was obsessed with him. "Umm, thanks… I guess…"

"So what kind of training did you do? I bet you learned some cool new jutsu!" Choji inquired.

"I really have to get going now." Sasuke said before walking away from enthusiastic team.

While he moved away, he could hear Shikamaru comment about how Sasuke still tried to play the cool kid. It annoyed him, but he didn't want to start any trouble and kept walking. When he got to his previously abandoned home and stepped inside, he saw everything looked the same as when he left. The only difference was his brother's Akatsuki cloak sitting on the back of a chair. Still exhausted from the last week he went through, Sasuke went to his bed and fell asleep in only moments.

"You're twenty three minutes late. You know what I told you!" Lady Tsunade scolded Itachi.

"If you would let me explain, I…"

"No excuses! If you wanted to remain here, you should have followed the rules. If you weren't an s-ranked criminal, I would let it slide, but seeing as you are such, I cannot let you stay."

"Grandma Tsunade, wait!" The hokage watched as Naruto and team rushed into her office. "Don't kick him out!"

"He was given a very clear time frame and failed. Itachi was aware of the consequences and will now receive punishment for disobeying." She stammered.

"He's only late because he rescued us." Sai replied. "I believe that is the action of a comrade."

Though his words made the room feel slightly awkward, Naruto backed him up. "It's true. Orochimaru caught us and was about to attack, but Itachi killed him."

Tsunade turned her attention towards the Uchiha. "You killed Orochimaru?"

Itachi nodded. "It wasn't my intention, but while I was walking back to the village, I stumbled across the five of them facing off against him."

Tsunade put her head in her hand. "Well… I suppose for taking care of such a huge threat to the leaf, you can be pardoned this one time."

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade." Itachi said in relief. "I apologize for arriving late."

"It couldn't be helped in a situation like this, but don't do it again!" She commanded. Itachi agreed before leaving the room along with the other members of the original team seven.

"Are you going to the hospital?" Naruto asked Itachi.

"I am. Sasuke should still be there."

"We're coming, too." Sakura said for her teammates.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to see my brother alone first."

"That's fine. We'll head into town and get some ramen." Kakashi said. When Naruto began to protest, the jonin added onto his statement. "I'll cover the bill."

"Well, I guess I can catch up with him later." Naruto mused and trotted after his teammates. When Itachi arrived at the hospital, the nurse in the lobby informed him that Sasuke had been released about an hour ago. With this new information, Itachi decided to check his apartment.

The former Akatsuki member entered the space to find Sasuke sleeping in the bed room. Satisfied that his little brother was able to rest somewhat peacefully, Itachi sat down on the couch so he could catch up on his sleep as well.


	25. Chapter 25

Naruto had finished his third bowl of ramen before he finally decided he was full. "Thanks for the food, Kakashi sensei!"

Kakashi smiled. "Naruto, I want to talk to you about Sasuke. That's part of the reason I offered to bring you here."

"Okay, what's on your mind?"

"I know that Sasuke didn't want to tell anyone about what happened, but he especially tried to keep it from you. I don't know if it's the best idea to try to talk to him about anything you learned from Orochimaru."

"I guess that might be true, but I should at least tell him I know now."

Sakura joined in the conversation. "He'll probably get mad when you do. He physically pushed me away from him when I was talking to him."

"Of course he'll get mad; he's always mad about something." Naruto commented. "Wait, you knew about it too?"

"I was with Lady Tsunade when the medical team told her."

"Thanks for letting me in on it." He remarked sarcastically.

"Anyway…" Kakashi began, "just be careful with how you inform him."

"You don't have to worry about it!" Naruto assured them. After demolishing a final bowl, the genin finally decided to call it a day and retreated to his home.

Morning arrived in a matter of hours. As usual, Itachi rose at dawn. He noted that Sasuke was still asleep and decided to go buy some medicine for him. Not much time had passed before a knock was heard on Sasuke's door. The sound was just enough to cause the Uchiha to awaken from his slumber.

He groggily shuffled to the door and opened it up to reveal Naruto. "What do you want?" Sasuke asked while suppressing a yawn.

"I need to talk with you," the blond said, "can I come in?"

Sasuke did not give a verbal response; instead he moved aside allowing his friend to enter. "This better be important since you woke me up…" He mumbled after shutting the door.

The two sat across from each other at a small table that was located in the kitchen. Naruto was unsure what to say first: should he tell him that Orochimaru is dead or that he knew what Orochimaru did to him. Several minutes passed and Sasuke grew impatient.

"I didn't let you in so you could sit here; if you don't have anything to say, I'm going back to bed."

"I do have something to say; I just don't know where to start." Naruto replied. After thinking it through once more, he decided on the order. "I guess the first thing you should know is that Orochimaru is dead."

The drowsiness that was clinging to Sasuke immediately vanished upon hearing those words. Knowing that Orochimaru was nearly immortal through his use of switching bodies and his substitution technique, he wondered how.

"How do you know that? What happened to him?"

"Team seven was sent to investigate his future plans, but he caught us. When it looked like we were about to lose, Itachi got there and finished him off."

Sasuke pondered Naruto's words. He had always known that Itachi was stronger than Orochimaru, but when the reality of his strength was shown, Sasuke was astonished. "That's good news for the village." He responded; the Uchiha did not want to seem too relieved that Orochimaru was gone since he still believed Naruto was in the dark.

"It's especially good news for you." Naruto said.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I know about what really went on with you and Orochimaru."


	26. Chapter 26

Sasuke's eyes grew wide as he heard Naruto's statement. "Is that so?" He asked thinking that Naruto was merely saying that he knew as a way to extract the truth.

"Yeah. I never would have thought something that horrible actually happened; to force himself on you like that is just..." He trailed off. Nothing he could say would make his friend feel comforted, so he silenced himself. A few moments passed before either of the boys spoke again.

"Who told you?" Sasuke inquired.

Naruto knew that the Uchiha would not be pleased with the answer to that question. "That's really not important."

"I want to know how you found out." The tone in Sasuke's voice turned bitter.

"Orochimaru told me."

Sasuke felt his stomach twist when Naruto revealed this fact. "You're lying! There's no way that's true!"

"It is true. When he found our team I asked him, and he said that… that it was 'pleasurable' but you wouldn't agree and…"

"Shut up! Don't you think I already knew that he enjoyed it?" He raised his voice in response.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto apologized; it was clearly too soon to relay Orochimaru's words to Sasuke.

"I don't need your pity." Sasuke hissed. Though he did not intend to come across as irrational, he could not manage to suppress his emotions. "You should go now."

Naruto tried to be understanding, but Sasuke was getting on his last nerve. "I'm not pitying you! I'm just trying to be there for you as your friend, so stop getting mad at me!"

"You just don't get it, do you?"

"I think you're the one who doesn't get it; all you ever do is push people away when they just want to help!"

Sasuke composed himself. "You should go now." He repeated.

"You're ridiculous!" Naruto said as he rose from the chair he was seated in.

Sasuke rose as well and slammed his hands onto the table before him. "You have no right to judge me! You have no idea what I went through!"

"You're right, but you don't have to act so insane!"

The two stood on opposite sides of the table glaring at each other. Their heated staring contest was broken when the door opened. Itachi entered with a small bottle of medicine in his hand. He looked over the situation and saw the tension between his little brother and Naruto.

"I got some medicine for you. Since you still aren't in particularly good condition, you really shouldn't be out of bed." Itachi said. He decided that his little brother didn't need to get any more worked up than he currently was. "I think you should go so Sasuke can get some more rest, Naruto."

"I was about to leave, anyway." Naruto said as he advanced towards the door and exited. After he left, Itachi turned his attention back to Sasuke.

"Your claim he's your closest friend, but all you do is argue with him." Itachi noted.

"Whatever," the younger said, "that's how it's always been. He's too much of a loser to get along with like a normal person."

"If you say so; here," Itachi opened the bottle of medicine and poured some into a small cup he obtained from a nearby cabinet, "take this. It's supposed to help reduce the pain."

Sasuke took the cup from Itachi and swallowed the liquid. He placed the little cup on the table before sitting down again. "I'm not so sure that being back in the village is the best thing for me." Sasuke confessed.

"I wouldn't say that; after what you've gone through, it's normal to act somewhat irrational."

A sigh was released from the younger, "I guess that's true."

Itachi moved over to Sasuke and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Give it some time; things will start to look up again." He looked down at the discontented teen. "Let's go out and do something to get your mind off of it."

"Like what? I don't feel up to doing much."

"We can go for a walk. That's simple enough." Sasuke did enjoy walks, so he decided it wasn't a bad idea to get some fresh air. After telling his brother that he would go, Sasuke went to his room to change from his pajamas into his usual attire. Several minutes later, the brothers headed out for their early morning stroll.

**This is getting really hard to write! I'm trying to keep it interesting, but the end is almost here and it's not very easy to bring to a close... Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! Please review**


	27. Chapter 27

"So how do you like being home?" Sasuke asked his brother.

"It's not really the same as it used to be; people always used to compliment my abilities and speak highly of me, which got a bit annoying, but now I'm just looked at as the criminal I am. It is nice to be where I belong, though." Itachi admitted.

"Those people have no right to judge you! They don't understand anything!"

Itachi sighed. "This is supposed to be a relaxing walk; don't let your anger get the best of you. The people of this village have a right to look at me that way; the reality to them is that I did it for selfish gain. It's understandable."

"But it's not fair how you did such a selfless thing and everyone criticizes you for it when they don't even know what really happened."

"Sasuke," Itachi groaned with frustration, "you need to let it go. Are you forgetting what you thought about me only a few days ago? You loathed me more than anyone else."

These words were shocking to Sasuke. It was true; he hated his brother with such passion before he knew the truth, so he could not judge others for the same feelings. It still angered him that Itachi was being scrutinized by the public. "I guess that's true." He confessed at last.

"Besides, it doesn't matter if they look at me with awe or animosity. The only important thing is that I can be there for you in the way I should have all along." He smiled down at his brother who grinned back. They continued to have lighthearted conversations all the way back to the apartment that they now shared. When they almost reached the complex, a group of four ninja approached them, all of which were unknown to both brothers.

"So I see it's true," One of them said, "Lady Hokage did let this lowlife back into the village." Itachi ignored them and pulled his scowling younger brother along after him.

"Come on, Sasuke," Itachi urged when Sasuke's glare at the men got darker, "disregard them; it doesn't matter what they think."

"I don't get why anyone would let scum like him back here." Another man said. An already outraged Sasuke snapped at that remark.

He lunged at the one who made the last comment, but Itachi gripped his arm and pulled him back. "Don't start anything, Sasuke. We shouldn't get involved in something so foolish."

Sasuke relaxed his muscles again until the first man spoke once more. "For being the so called 'pride of the Uchiha clan,' this guy's just a coward." Though Sasuke was still in no condition to engage in a fight, he ripped away from his brother's hold and planted his fist on the man's face.

"Don't say such things when you know nothing!" Sasuke spat at the male who staggered back from the blow. The other three men along with the one who took the hit grew angry.

"You're going to pay for that, you brat!" One of the remaining men who hadn't before spoken shouted angrily.

"You're in no condition to get in a fight with four shinobi right now," Itachi scolded before turning to the men, "I apologize for my brother's actions. We're going now."

Itachi turned his back and began to step away; he only took a few steps when the thugs who approached them attempted to strike the weakened Sasuke. The blow was intercepted by Itachi who grew angry. "You must not be too bright since you tried to assault us. It's in your best interest to leave now." His eyes turned red as his sharingan activated. There was no way anyone could hurt his precious brother in his presence.

The one who spoke the most tried to cover his fear. "Let's get out of here; these two aren't worth it." The group then retreated. Itachi turned off his sharingan when they were gone and began to walk towards the apartment again.

"Why did you let them leave?" Sasuke interrogated.

"I'm not much for violence when it comes down to it. The only reason I even considered harming them was due to the fact that they tried to attack you." He stated.

"How could you just let them go when they said such degrading things about you?"

"They were just thugs who clearly had no idea what they were getting into. People like that are everywhere; it's essential that you disregard them. Besides, Lady Tsunade forbade me from getting into conflict with anyone."

Sasuke wanted to protest, but decided that if Itachi could overlook harsh judgment, he should as well. When the two finally made it back to their humble dwelling, they both sat down on the couch located just outside of the bedroom. Since he got up earlier than usual and was still generally worn out, Sasuke fell asleep on the sofa moments after seating himself.

Itachi watched his brother snooze. It pleased him that his younger brother was able to doze off with ease again; it meant that Sasuke was beginning to mentally heal as well.


	28. Chapter 28

**Hello readers! I want to thank you for enjoying my story! This chapter wraps it up, so I hope you enjoy the ending of my first fanfiction!**

"So you went to see Sasuke this morning, huh?" Sakura asked Naruto as they strolled back from the training grounds together.

"Yeah…" Naruto sighed.

"Well how did it go?"

"It didn't go as smooth as I wanted, but I guess it went about how I expected. He got mad and started yelling at me to stop feeling sorry for him. I'm pretty sure he was about to hit me, but Itachi got back and calmed him down before he did."

"Well, he has been through a lot and probably doesn't feel comfortable talking about it."

"He seems fine when his brother's talking to him."

"Yeah, but they are brothers. That's what siblings do."

Naruto knew Sakura was right, but still wished he could talk to Sasuke in the same way. He wanted to be there for him like a brother, even though they were not blood. "I think I'm going to head over to see him. I want to apologize for yelling at him."

"You yelled at him?" Sakura shouted. "Why would you do that? You know he's really upset right now!"

"I know!" Naruto replied stepping away from her to avoid a potential punch. "That's why I'm going to apologize!" He bid her farewell before taking off in the direction of Sasuke's house.

He arrived at the door and knocked twice. The door opened to reveal Itachi. "I sure have been seeing a lot of you lately." He smirked.

"Same to you," Naruto replied, "but I'm not here to see you."

"I figured that much, but Sasuke's asleep right now."

"All he does is sleep anymore…" Naruto commented.

"He's still not well."

The two standing on opposite sides of the entryway turned when they heard footsteps from behind Itachi. "I don't always sleep," Sasuke said as he yawned, "besides, I need to talk with you, Naruto."

"Great! I want to talk to you, too." Naruto replied with a smile.

Itachi decided to let the two friends work out their differences and left the apartment to get some groceries. They two who remained took the same seats they had earlier that morning.

Naruto spoke first, "I want to apologize for yelling at you earlier. I know you've gone through a lot recently, and I shouldn't get mad at you."

"I have gone through a lot, but you are my closest friend… I know you just want to help." Sasuke admitted.

"You're like a brother to me, and I want to be there for you."

"Thank you; not just for this, but for everything. You never gave up on me, even after I claimed to have broken our bond."

"That's what friends are for; to stop you from making stupid decisions and always help you out." He smiled.

"I suppose that's true." Sasuke smirked in response.

"Well now that we worked that out, I guess team seven can truly pick up where we left off!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah, with you still being the loser of the team." Sasuke teased.

"You're still such a jerk!" Naruto responded. "But I guess that's just how our friendship works." The two could agree on that fact, though they were usually never in agreement of anything. After their heart-to-heart, Naruto left to inform Sakura of the news of his rekindled friendship.

About fifteen minutes later, Itachi returned with a few bags of produce and other food items. "Judging by the fact that you don't appear to be in a sour mood, I presume that this meeting when well?"

"Yeah, I think things are pretty much so back to normal now." Sasuke answered.

"I'm glad to hear it, though something tells me it won't be the last time the two of you get into a fight." He snickered. Sasuke silently agreed with his older brother.

"Naruto told me that you were the one who killed Orochimaru." The air in the room shifted and the feeling became somber.

"That's right." He replied.

"Thank you, Itachi."

"I don't know if it's really something to thank me for; I didn't set out in pursuit of him."

"Even so, I can begin to recover now, and it is because of you."

"Well, I said I would always be there for you." Itachi said as he began to stock the refrigerator. They remained silent until the elder finished putting all of the products away. Sasuke rose from the chair he had been sitting in and walked to his brother. He embraced Itachi warmly.

"Before the last few days, I used to blame you for everything that happened to me, but now I see that you were truly trying to aid me." Sasuke uttered.

"I know I cannot make up for the years I left you alone, but I can assure you that I will never abandon you again. I will never force you to endure the struggles that come with loneliness as long as I live." Itachi promised as he enveloped Sasuke in his arms.

The brothers knew that the road ahead would be a difficult one after the horrors Sasuke previously faced, but he now had the support he so desperately tried to push away before. Having realized that those closest to him were the very thing that kept him going, Sasuke could return to being the member of team seven and little brother he used to be.

**Thank you all again for reading! Please review with advice on how I can improve for my next story. I truly hope you enjoyed this one! :)**


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